The New South Wales government has purchased 151 new electric buses, part of the government’s longer-term goal of transitioning the state’s 8,000-plus fleet of diesel and gas buses to zero emissions vehicles.
The specifics are few and far between in the government’s media release, which focused more on slamming the former Liberal-National government’s failure to buy new buses, having apparently gone two years without buying a single new bus during their final term of office.
We do know, though, that the 151 new electric buses will be delivered by local Australian bus manufacturers Custom Denning and Volgren Australia and will surpass the government’s 50 per cent target for local manufacturing content.
The 151 new buses will be delivered to the Leichhardt and Kingsgrove bus depots, which are currently being converted to support the charging and upkeep of electric buses. They are part of eleven bus depots across Sydney that are being converted, in addition to the new battery electric depot being built at Macquarie Park.
Once delivered, the 151 new buses will join the more than 220 battery electric buses already in operation around Greater Sydney, on the road towards an expected 1,700 electric buses which will be in service on Sydney’s roads by 2028.
Since March 2023, the NSW Labor government says it has purchased 921 new buses, of which 575 are battery electric, including the 319 battery electric buses ordered in December 2024 which will be supplied by bus manufacturers Custom Denning, Foton Mobility Distribution, VDI-Yutong and Volvo.
“This latest investment in new buses has us on an express route to 1000 new buses since Labor came to government,” said John Graham, NSW minister for transport.
“The build-up of zero emission buses is happening in a staged and sustainable way, with the obvious benefits for the environment and air quality complemented by enhanced passenger comfort levels on these quieter, smoother buses.”
Conversion of the bus depots at Leichhardt and Kingsgrove will see both depots capable of supporting hundreds of electric buses.
At Leichhardt, a partial conversion was completed in 2022 which included the installation of over 40 EV chargers, rooftop solar panels, a battery electric system, and an upgrade to the electrical grid. This partial upgrade allowed the Leichhardt depot to support over 70 battery electric buses – part of the more than 200 buses operating out of the depot.
The full depot conversion will expand and reconfigure the depot to allow more bus charging and parking spaces and add around 77 new EV chargers, as well as include the decommissioning of existing diesel and gas refuelling infrastructure.
At the Kingsgrove bus depot, the ongoing conversion will deliver upgrades to support a new fleet of around 155 battery electric buses and include pull-down bus chargers.
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.
