Macquarie and Origin invest in chassis company for e-buses

Macquarie Group and Origin Energy have announced they are getting into the zero-emissions bus game.

The banking group and energy provider this week revealed a deal to invest in Aluminium Revolutionary Chassis Company (ARCC), a developer and manufacturer of lightweight bolted aluminium city bus chassis.

The Sydney-headquartered ARCC bills itself as Australia’s first manufacturer of a zero-emission Australian bus chassis. ARCC has developed a lightweight aluminium bus chassis that reduces fuel and energy consumption while also allowing for greater passenger capacity compared to other zero-emission buses on the market.

The ARCC team has also designed a streamlined, bolted assembly process that it says cuts production time and helps to support local Australian manufacturing.

“ARCC’s bolted aluminium bus chassis has been developed from proven bus building technologies and techniques to reduce the weight of its buses by up to two tonnes,” said Peter Murley, ARCC managing director.

“For ARCC’s customers the lighter buses can carry more passengers while using less energy, leading to further savings through a reduction in costly charging infrastructure and grid upgrade requirements.”

ARCC’s chassis also features a modular design that allows for either pure electric or hydrogen fuel cell electric propulsion.

Cleaner fuels and new technologies

As the company explains on its website, “the road to 100% electric requires balancing the needs of operators with the load on the grid” and it is for this reason that ARCC believes “hydrogen and full electric vehicles both have an important role to play and offer either configuration on the same reliable chassis.”

The new investment from two of Australia’s leading clean energy investors will help to support ARCC’s growth.

“Together with the support of Macquarie Group and Origin Energy, ARCC can forge forward and capitalise on its unique creation to accelerate the net zero transition of Australia’s public transport system using Australian designed, built and delivered solutions,” said Murley.

“Cleaner fuels and new technologies are crucial for the mass transit revolution, with battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles promising options for decarbonising passenger transport,” said Ryan Willemsen-Bell, general manager of future fuels at Origin.

“Compared to diesel buses, both battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell buses offer the advantages of low pollution, noise reduction and use of renewable energies. Origin is pleased to be supporting ARCC as part of our focus on the development of cleaner technologies that can help accelerate decarbonisation across the economy.”