Factually true yes, for some reason in the industry we still seem to refer to the Electrostar family as Bombardier.
I’ll rephrase that then Alstom will not offer a price for battery fitment to and Electrostar fleet, they will instead steer you towards and Adventra with battery options.
Exactly- Alstom (and for that matter Siemens too, I'm sure) would much rather sell a new BEMU than refit an old one. But that doesn't preclude another company coming in and adding to the existing trains, as proposed with the 350/2 BEMU idea (from Porterbrook? Can't remember)
I do agree though that the North Downs line would be great with a BEMU if it could charge up enough on the electrified sections. The other ideal for a BEMU Electrostar of course is the Uckfield line. If the 387s can be made to a successful BEMU then that could solve a lot of the concerns, however it's not an insubstantial length of running off the juice rail, which could make it unfeasible with today's tech unless more of the branch were to be electrified.
I'm unsure as well about the Cardiff-Portsmouth route. I think an 8-car unit might struggle to fit in a number of places (IIRC there are issues with a level crossing somewhere, maybe around Trowbridge?) although the capacity would definitely be welcome on a lot of journeys! And, again, might be tricky with the length of time running off the juice rail/25kv. However, if there were more wires up around Bristol, including the Swindon-Chippenham-Bath-Bristol TM route, then things would be much much easier. My idealised 5-car bi-mode idea for SWR to replace the 159s might be a better fit for this line too, just made dual voltage as well.
