Australian electric bus supplier Nexport Mobility has secured a supply agreement with British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis to bring a range of zero-emission buses to the Australian market.
Nexport Mobility, a fully Australian owned business, is already the exclusive distributor and partner in Australia of Chinese electric bus manufacturer BYD, arguably the world’s largest electric bus manufacturer.
This latest agreement will see Nexport assemble Alexander Dennis electric bus bodies from the company’s Enviro range atop BYD electric bus chassis and introduce the buses into the Australian market. Nexport will also manage the customer sales and after sales service relationships.
“The ADL product suite provides Australian bus operators key solutions and innovations developed from large scale Electric Bus deployments across Europe,” said Michel van Maanen, Nexport CEO
“The time of just handing over the keys when these assets were a commodity in the ‘diesel world’ has changed to the delivery of a complex ‘clean tech solutions’ in an ecosystem of energy, charger and technology companies with complementary training of the drivers, mechanics and operational teams to use the vehicles optimally.”
The agreement will see Nexport assemble a range of new locally assembled electric busses, starting with a 9.7-metre electric city bus, as well as 11.6-metre and 12.5-metre models. Nexport expects the first buses will be on Australian roads by early 2022, before volume production scales up by the end of 2022.
“This agreement will be another significant boost to the Australian manufacturing renaissance,” said Michel van Maanen, CEO of Nexport. “We are delighted to partner with Alexander Dennis who has been extremely progressive in the zero emission bus space globally.
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.