The plan is to electrify the entire bus fleet (about 8,000), but even part of it would be an achievement
According to the latest news from New South Wales (NSW) in Australia, NSW’s government plans to gradually replace some 8,000 buses in Sydney with all-electric counterparts.
Within the next three years (by the end of 2022), Sydney will be renewing the bulk of its bus contracts with transit operators, which opens the way to propose/require electrification of at least part of the fleet.
“NSW will take advantage of the opportunity presented by its ageing bus fleet to become the first state or territory government to shift its entire fleet to an all-electric offering.”
NSW transport minister Andrew Constance said:
“Making the switch to an entirely electric bus fleet will deliver huge benefits to the community in terms of reducing air and noise pollution, as well as our incredible drivers,”.
“As part of this process, we will challenge the industry to begin an ambitious transformation of our bus fleet from particulate emitting diesel to zero-emission buses.”
It’s hard to believe that Sydney really will manage to electrify 100% of the buses, but hopefully will really reach a four-digit volume in a few years.
Interestingly, according to sources, replacing all the diesel buses with EVs would increase NSW’s electricity demand by up to 5-10%.
Here is an example of an all-electric bus (Yutong E12) in Sydney:
And a second one with a BYD K9RA:
Source: thedriven.io via electrive.com