Upwardly mobile Forest Green prepared to park the bus in bid to seal a step up

Forest Green will become the first team in the world to travel to a sports event in an electric coach on Saturday for what they hope will be a promotion party at Bristol Rovers.

The Sky Bet League Two leaders can seal promotion to the third tier this weekend and will make the short journey from Gloucestershire to the Memorial Ground in a state-of-the-art electric vehicle.

It fulfils a pledge made by Rovers chairman Dale Vince at the start of the season to use one. The coach for this weekend’s game is being leased from London company Westway but in the longer term the club intend to buy one for suitable away trips next season.

The coach they are using on Saturday, manufactured by Chinese firm Yutong, has a range of 180 miles before recharging is required.

Forest Green are regarded as world leaders among sports teams striving to be sustainable.

The club’s New Lawn ground is powered 100 per cent by renewable energy, they play on an organic pitch which is not treated with pesticides or weedkiller, they reuse rain water to irrigate the pitch rather than rely on mains water and provide electric car charge points at the stadium.

The club’s head coach Rob Edwards has an electric car, as does chief executive Henry Staelens, and the team have played in a kit made from coffee waste.

All food served at the ground is vegan, while there are plans to move to a new stadium called the Eco Park made entirely from wood.

Vince told the PA news agency: “Our work focuses on three big things – energy, transport and food.

“Since I began with the club in 2010 I’ve wanted an electric team bus because it’s one of the things within our control on the transport front that we haven’t managed to crack yet. We’ve been waiting for electric buses to come