More Green Buses for Australia

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The trials are over and more green buses are on order for Australia! We’ll look at the progress in three states — South Australia, New South Wales, and Queensland. Then, we’ll look at the newest offerings from bus companies.

With the majority of electricity produced in the state of South Australia (SA), it makes sense to move as much transport to battery electric as possible. Currently, 80% of SA electricity is being produced by solar and wind. The state just announced that it has ordered 60 new battery electric buses and plans to move rail transport to electric also. Transport is the largest source of GHG emissions in SA.

At the moment, SA is completing the trial of one electric bus. Sixty are now on order. That’s zero to 60 in about 2 years. SA stopped buying conventional diesel buses in 2022, shifting instead to hybrid battery-diesel and now to full electric. Adelaide (capital of SA) is well serviced by electric trams. There is still some distance to go in the changeover to electric buses, as there are 1000 buses in the Adelaide Metro bus fleet. SA is still trialling two hydrogen buses. It will be interesting to see how that works out.

Scania will be supplying the chassis for the new buses, with Volgren to supply the body. Plans are afoot to install charging at the Morphettville bus depot. It even made the Channel 7 News. You can watch the video here. Predictably, there are many comments under the video that decry the cost and state that the electricity will be coming from burning fossil fuels. In a trend that is increasing in Australia, there are now many posters who can answer such questions and are standing up for the EV revolution.

My favourite negative comment is: “The batteries will come from the shop that burns unicorn farts for rainbow power.” Then there is “silent death for pedestrians.” And the old favourite stoking the fear of the bus depot going up in flames: “Has anyone seen what happens when these things catch fire? The whole depot will go up when the thermal runaway gets going!”

Responders pointed out that, apparently, the purchase cost for the battery-electric buses is the same as for diesel. SA is averaging 72% renewable electricity production from wind and solar, so its buses won’t be charged with coal and gas. It is better to use domestically produced electricity than imported diesel. The government will save massive amounts of money by switching from diesel fuel. And, of course, the clincher: Buy diesel … “if you want to support more floods, droughts, severe storms, bushfires, die-offs of plants, animals, and ecosystems, and loss of life and property.”

I have wondered why I hadn’t seen any anti-electric bus FUD on social media — guess I wasn’t looking in the right place.

The New South Wales government recently announced an order for 319 battery-electric buses. The buses will be supplied by VDI-Yutong, Volvo, Foton Mobility Distribution, and Custom Denning. Some buses will be built in Australia, others will be assembled from imported key components and fitted out locally. All buses will have some minimum local fitout. NSW aims to transition all 8000 public transport diesel and gas buses to electric by 2040. The NSW government is planning to order another 1000 BEV buses within the next two years.

“Ultimately, it’s the community that will benefit from this investment as the majority of Transport’s carbon emissions currently come from our diesel and gas buses — instead we will have a cleaner, quieter fleet across NSW,” TfNSW coordinator-general Howard Collins says. Some bus depots are being converted to pantograph (overhead) charging. Pantograph charging is explained here, with an embedded video.

And closer to home, in Brisbane, Queensland, work proceeds on the extension of the Brisbane Metro to the north. The station is being built on a historic landfill, apparently inhabited by an intelligent species of methane-breathing mice. An artist has created an imagination-stirring playground complete with coded messages from the mice underneath.

Of course, some locals have decried the building of the metro station and want the land used for better purposes — pony club, netball courts, or better still, affordable housing! They are forgetting that it is the site of a waste dump, and the lessons learnt from previous attempts at building housing on top of a tip. In Kingston, Brisbane, several streets had to be reclaimed after toxic sludge oozed from the waste below. Apparently, an old gold mine that closed in 1954 became an unofficial waste dump. In the late ’60s, it was backfilled and became a housing estate.

“In the 1980s, a reaction between the cyanide remaining from the gold-mining days and the unidentified materials dumped in the old shafts formed a toxic sludge that oozed from the ground. Eventually the state government resumed 46 properties and rehabilitated the area in the late 1980s, which is now open space.” I don’t think there are sentient mice living there.

Nationally, Australian bus company Challenger has announced more electric models to be launched Australia wide in 2025. “We will be increasing the product range to include electric right across the board. This means all of the current products that we’ve got, the Callibar, V10 and V12, and even future models, will be made electric,” NSW sales manager Glenn Davidson says. “We hope to have them all launched by mid-2025.” That’s only a few months away.

You can take a video tour of the Challenger Electric low-floor here. The bus is powered by a DANA motor fed by a 350 kW CATL battery to give 400+ km of range.

GoZero Group (which includes Nexport, North Sydney Bus Charter, and Foton Mobility Distribution) has received a $105 million asset and trade finance package from Commonwealth Bank (CBA). This will fund the replacement of their diesel fleet by zero-emissions buses. GoZero has been listed as a preferred bus supplier for Transport for NSW (TfNSW).

The NexGen electric city bus from GoZero has evolved. The batteries have been placed under the floor, instead of on the roof. The 45-seat bus now has pantograph and plug-in charging. The bus is available with 378, 428, or 453 kWh LFP batteries to provide a range of up to 430 km. The company states that this model is now more efficient, safer, and more comfortable for passengers than ever.

Although Australia produces some oil, most of its fuel is imported through Korea, Singapore, and Japan. We have about 50 days of supply, placing us in a very insecure position. Moving from diesel to electric is not only good for the climate and the economy, but also for Australia’s national security. For those who travel by bus, the future is bright, electric, and more energy secure.