Queensland adds 17 new electric buses to its fleet, powered by solar depot

Another 17 electric buses are being added to the public transport fleet in south-east Queensland, with the first e-bus scheduled to start services in February before the other 16 progressively join the network.

State government public transport agency Translink says it has worked with the Queensland branch of transport giant Transdev to order the electric buses, which will service Brisbane’s eastern suburbs.

The buses are being built locally at Volgren’s Eagle Farm manufacturing facility on Brisbane’s northside, with each bus built supporting five jobs.

The dual motor, 300kW power, 12.5m Volvo BZL buses seat 43 passengers and will be at least partly powered by the existing solar system installed at Transdev’s Capalaba depot.

Transdev Queensland managing director Mark McKenzie says the new electric buses are quieter and “fully featured” vehicles.

“Major depot work is underway now including cabling, utilities and new vehicle chargers to set us up for our electric and hydrogen-based future,” McKenzie said.

“These 17 new electric buses will play a key role in helping us hit our emissions reduction targets, so it’s great to see the rollout is about to begin,” said Queensland energy minister Mark Bailey.

“We’re not stopping here either – from 2025, all new buses on the South East Queensland urban network will be zero-emissions buses, while regional implementation will begin between 2025 and 2030.

Member for Capalaba Don Brown said the 17 new buses would take Transdev’s Queensland fleet to around one-fifth zero-emissions vehicles.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing our new electric buses, made locally and powered by local renewables, hitting the streets of Capalaba,” Brown said.

“These new buses form part of the Palaszczuk Government’s almost $3.9 billion road and transport plan for Greater Brisbane over the next four years, supporting 3,280 good, secure jobs.

Transdev’s McKenzie says the shift to electric buses is also about upskilling the company’s local workforce in this renewable energy space with technical skills that will be transferrable to other industries.

“We hope the work we are doing with Translink provides an indicator of suitable specifications for operators moving to zero-emission buses in the future,” he said.

Transdev was the first operator to run Australia’s first 100 per cent sustainably powered full-size electric bus powered by a depot solar array, the company claims.