New South Wales expands electric bus fleet
Under the order, 276 of the new buses are to be operational on the Northern Beaches and North Shore by 2028. The remaining 43 electric buses will be used to provide service at the new Western Sydney International Airport.
The NSW government states that this acquisition will play a significant step forward in the multi-billion-dollar programme to transition NSW’s 8,000-strong diesel and gas public bus fleet to zero emissions technology. The next order is expected to be placed early next year for another 150 battery-electric buses. Cumulatively, the NSW government plans to order around 1,000 additional battery-electric buses by 2027, so the pace will likely pick up soon.
Funding the bus conversion strategy is the ZEB (Zero Emission Bus) Programme, whose Stage 1, covering Greater Sydney, will see almost $3 billion AUS invested to convert and build depots across the region, as well as purchase 1,500 new electric buses and invest another $25 million AUS for regional trials in new and emerging technologies.
Currently there are 180 battery electric buses in operation in the Greater Sydney area, including three in Newcastle, with an estimated 1,700 battery electric buses planned to be in service on Sydney roads by 2028. By 2047, the state plans to have electrified its entire fleet.
“The first zero emission bus orders for the Program mark an important milestone in what is an undeniably ambitious plan to transition all public transport diesel and gas buses to zero emission buses in Greater Sydney by 2035, in Outer Metropolitan regions by 2040, and in Regional NSW by 2047,” said Transport for NSW Coordinator-General Howard Collins. He added: “NSW is leading the way with the largest ZEB fleet in Australia, while also supporting the Government’s aim of progressively increasing local goods, services, and workforce in bus manufacturing to 50% for future bus orders by 2027.”
This is not the first order from Sydney for Custom Denning’s buses, which previously served an order for 79 electric buses back in 2022. In the same year, Zenobē and TransGrid also built the city’s largest bus charging depot yet.
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