Sydney buses going electric!

[baillies]

I stumbled on this tonight and thought others here may be interested.

New bus contracts to drive improved services | Transport for NSW

“Making the switch to an entirely electric bus fleet will deliver huge benefits to the community in terms of reducing air and noise pollution, as well as our incredible drivers,” Mr Constance said.

“As part of this process, we will challenge the industry to begin an ambitious transformation of our bus fleet from particulate emitting diesel to zero-emission buses.

“The experience of other leading European cities demonstrates that a rapid transition to zero-emission buses is possible and I have asked Transport for NSW to work with operators and bus suppliers to develop a plan to transition our fleet as part of the tender process.

“Zero-emission buses are becoming the standard with the significant environmental, health and operational cost benefits being experienced now in cities like London, Paris and Amsterdam. As a truly global city Sydney deserves the same.”

This is great news! I have thought for some time the easiest way for governments to drive the uptake/education of EV’s is to switch to electric buses. I hope they install CCS chargers at all of the on street bus staging areas so these chargers can be used overnight to charge cars for people that don’t have off street parking for their cars. Ie charge buses whilst they wait to start their next route, these area’s are busy mostly in the day, especially before peek hours. Also making the curb side lane of more 3+ lane roads T3 lanes but also allowing ev’s would be good. One of the worst things about waiting for a bus on a busy street is the noise and pollution especially from diesel trucks and buses in the curb side lane.

Another idea I really like I heard on the recent driven podcast to incentivise fleets by matching half the cost of the first one or two vehicles for a fleet so they can get real experience and data to switch, apparently it has worked in NZ.

Electric garbage trucks seem to be a no brainer too but still taking a while to get going...

 

[Vostok]

I stumbled on this tonight and thought others here may be interested.

New bus contracts to drive improved services | Transport for NSW

This is great news! I have thought for some time the easiest way for governments to drive the uptake/education of EV’s is to switch to electric buses. I hope they install CCS chargers at all of the on street bus staging areas so these chargers can be used overnight to charge cars for people that don’t have off street parking for their cars.

This in indeed great and long overdue news. There are two electric buses currently on trial in the Inner West area where I live, mostly running on the 431, 433 and 470 routes. The trial started in August I think. I catch the bus into the city regularly and once just missed one leaving the stop, much to my chagrin. One of the buses is BYD and is plastered with a huge “100% electric” stickers on the sides. I can’t remember the manufacturer of the other one, it has more subtle livery.

The buses are charged at Leichhardt Bus depot using dual charging cables. I doubt chargers would be installed at any bus layover areas on street, since the buses sit idle at the depot overnight, but you never know.

I don’t know exactly how many public buses there are in Sydney - a couple of thousand I think - but it’s instructive to compare the electrification plans here with Shenzhen, China, which electrified its entire fleet of 16,359 buses. The conversion started in 2012 and was finished in 2017, but 86% of it was done in the final three years, including adding 9,186 buses in 2016 alone!

 

[baillies]

This in indeed great and long overdue news. There are two electric buses currently on trial in the Inner West area where I live, mostly running on the 431, 433 and 470 routes. The trial started in August I think. I catch the bus into the city regularly and once just missed one leaving the stop, much to my chagrin. One of the buses is BYD and is plastered with a huge “100% electric” stickers on the sides. I can’t remember the manufacturer of the other one, it has more subtle livery.

The buses are charged at Leichhardt Bus depot using dual charging cables. I doubt chargers would be installed at any bus layover areas on street, since the buses sit idle at the depot overnight, but you never know.

I don’t know exactly how many public buses there are in Sydney - a couple of thousand I think - but it’s instructive to compare the electrification plans here with Shenzhen, China, which electrified its entire fleet of 16,359 buses. The conversion started in 2012 and was finished in 2017, but 86% of it was done in the final three years, including adding 9,186 buses in 2016 alone!

I thought I had posted about the electric bus trial previously but I can't find it. Great to here that you are getting to use it!

SYDNEY REGION 6 ELECTRIC BUS TRIAL STARTS 1 JULY; ROUTES CONFIRMED!

Unfortunately in looking for the bus info I also found this, which is the worst case of what I feared with the reintroduction of trams to city streets

Newcastle Light Rail Safety review released | Transport for NSW

I posted some of my issues with this here (#3) in my reasons why I think electric bus/trams are better technology, basically we spent thousands of years trying to get road/footpath surfaces smooth to reduce injuries and now we are going backwards!

 

[Vostok]

I thought I had posted about the electric bus trial previously but I can't find it. Great to here that you are getting to use it!
SYDNEY REGION 6 ELECTRIC BUS TRIAL STARTS 1 JULY; ROUTES CONFIRMED!

It’s funny though - those 4 buses in the photos are NOT the electric buses. The electric buses look quite different. The BYD bus has a thick “elevated” top the full length of the bus, where the batteries are?

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I thought I had posted about the electric bus trial previously but I can't find it. Great to here that you are getting to use it!

SYDNEY REGION 6 ELECTRIC BUS TRIAL STARTS 1 JULY; ROUTES CONFIRMED!

I note that that article also mentions a trial in Melbourne, with a local bus manufacture also putting a body on a BYD chassis.