Australia’s most advanced wind and solar state orders 60 electric buses in first big move on transport

The South Australian government says it has ordered 60 new full battery electric buses from Swedish manufacturing giant Scania, and which will be built by Victoria’s bus manufacturer Volgren.

The new buses are set to be delivered throughout the second half of 2025 and into early 2026, and is the first rollout of fully electric buses in the state at scale.

Surprisingly, for a state that leads the world in the percentage of wind and solar in its grid (more than 70 per cent of local grid demand over the last 12 months), it has just one electric bus currently operating on the network after a successful trial.

And because South Australia has relatively low emissions from its electricity grid, thanks to the exit of goal and the reduction of gas-fired power as wind, solar and battery storage takes its place, transport is the biggest emitting sector in that state’s economy.

Charging infrastructure to charge the new buses is already being installed at the Morphettville depot.

The initiate marks the first step in what is a sizeable replacement program, with the Adelaide Metro bus fleet currently coming in at just over 1,000 vehicles, powered by a mixture of diesel, hybrid, and natural gas powertrains – accompanying the single BEV bus and a further two hydrogen buses which are also currently on trial.

South Australia ceased purchase of new diesel-only buses in September of 2022.

Volgren recently delivered five new hybrid buses as part of the South Australian government’s supply contract with Scania, with an additional ten in production and scheduled for delivery for operations on the Adelaide Hills expansion services.

The announcement was made on Saturday by the state’s energy minister Tom Koutsantonis, who said that the purchase of its new BEV buses builds on “a significant body of groundwork towards decarbonisation of both the bus and passenger rail networks.

“These new business cases will build upon this prior body of work to decarbonise the metropolitan bus network and the Outer Harbor and Belair Lines, as we work towards our commitment to upgrade our public transport system to zero emissions with cleaner, greener and more efficient technologies,” Koutsantonis added.

“Not only are low and zero-emission transport options more environmentally friendly, they provide a smoother, quieter and more comfortable journey for commuters, which will encourage more people onto our public transport network.”

Charging infrastructure to charge the new buses is already being installed at the Morphettville depot.

Koutsantonis also reiterated his state’s January announcement touting the beginning of operations of the 50^th and final hybrid battery-diesel railcar on Adelaide Metro’s rail network, a milestone which marked “the end of diesel trains”.

This means that the Adelaide Metro railway network is already partially decarbonised, with the Gawler and Seaford Lines, including the Flinders spur line, already having been electrified. However, the Belair and Outer Harbor line, including the Grange and Port Dock spur lines, are currently operated by hybrid-diesel railcars.

The South Australian government also announced that it had selected two global engineering professional services companies, Mott MacDonald and WSP, to assist the government in building detailed business cases to plan towards transitioning Adelaide’s passenger rail and bus networks to zero emissions.

Currently, the South Australian state government has committed to an emissions reduction target of at least 60 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030, on its way to reaching net zero by 2050.

Given that transportation is the single largest source of emissions in the state, and the operation of public transport vehicles constituting a major part of these emissions, transitioning the state capital’s public transport network to zero emissions will go a long way to meeting the government’s larger goals.

Mott MacDonald and WSP will work to consolidate the existing body of planning and feasibility analysis that has already been completed in the state, turning it into a detailed business case for achieving zero emissions operation across Adelaide’s passenger rail and bus network.