Major bus-makers eye electric bus manufacturing plant in Sydney

A trio of major players in Australia’s public transport sector are exploring the development of a battery electric bus manufacturing facility in Western Sydney.

ComfortDelGro Corp, which runs public bus and charter services in several regional and metropolitan locations around Australia, said this week that it is planning to join forces with Volvo Bus Australia and Volgren to explore the establishment of a battery electric bus manufacturing facility.

The facility would be located at CDC’s St Marys depot in Western Australia and would help increase the supply of locally manufactured battery electric buses for all bus operators.

It is also expected that the new facility, if it moves forward, would greatly support the New South Wales plan to transition the state’s entire bus fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2047 and to help achieve federal net-zero emissions by 2050.

“The New South Wales Government’s aim to transition the entire Transport for New South Wales fleet to zero-emission buses by 2047 is a worthy and ambitious undertaking which we seek to support as much as possible,” said Mitchell Peden, general manager of Volvo Bus Australia.

“Whilst this project helps to showcase the ability to assemble our Volvo BZL Electric chassis in Australia to meet the needs of various state governments, achieving this outcome requires a significant change to the manufacturing ecosystem and long-term commitments to pooling knowledge and resources and upskilling workforces.”