The West Australian government is to invest $125 million in a vastly upgraded electric bus program that will commit to building 130 new locally-made electric buses and upgrade depots to cope with charging infrastructure.
The funds will be released in its next state budget and will match a commitment made by the federal government last year, bringing the total investment to $250 million. It comes nearly three years after the state government made a controversial decision to buy 900 diesel buses.
Some $22 million of the new funds will be initially used to buy 18 new electric buses and install charging infrastructure at Elizabeth Quay Bus Station.
The funding will expand upon the existing electric bus trial on the Joondalup CAT route, which has seen four battery-electric vehicles supplied through the Public Transport Authority’s existing bus agreement with Volvo to operate on short routes within the northern suburbs.
The government says that the 4 four electric buses in the trial are estimated to have carried more than 250,000 passengers in the first 12 months and covered more than 140,000km – or an average of just 100kms a day – saving approximately 230 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in the process.
“Electric vehicles are the future, and this investment will ensure Western Australia’s public transport network is clean and green for our net-zero future,” said WA Premier Mark McGowan in a statement.
“Importantly, we will build these busses right here in Western Australia – creating local manufacturing jobs and supporting local businesses.”
According to the WA Public Transport Authority Transperth operates a fleet of around 1500 buses so the 130 new electric buses will make up around 9% of the states fleet.
WA still ordering diesel buses despite commitment to electric
Professor Ray Wills, from UWA and Future Smart Strategies says that since 2020, around 225 diesel buses have been delivered, with 126 more scheduled for delivery in 2022-23.
“In the same time Transperth only received 2 electric buses and ordered 2,” says Wills.
In 2020, WA's Transperth under @MarkMcGowanMP Government committed to buy 900 additional buses from Volvo
Since then, 225 diesel buses delivered,
with 126 more scheduled 2022/23🤯In the same time Transperth have also received 2 electric buses and ordered 2#Climatecrisis 🤯 https://t.co/LVsdGpTRme
— Prof Ray Wills👋 (@ProfRayWills) July 27, 2022
Will’s says of Perth’s 1469 buses only 46% meet the Euro 5/6 standard, which was in place from 2009 to 2014. Just one third meet Euro4 (2005), and only 20.5% meet the decades old Euro1-3 standard (1993-2000).
States urged to speed up transition to electric buses
The announcement comes after a report from The Australia Institute two weeks ago showed that Australian states have been very slow to move on the electrification of bus fleets.
The TAI report found that despite grand promises from a variety of state governments just 200 out of 100,000 buses in Australia are electric, making up just 0.2 of the nations fleet.
The report says that Western Australia still lacks a firm target on transitioning the state’s buses to electricity.
TAI’s Stuck in the Slow Lane report says that in addition to funding, the WA government should introduce a 2030 electric bus fleet target and purchase target.
TAI says that cities with bus fleets that are significantly larger than those operating in Australian cities have been able to achieve full electrification. The city of Shenzhen in China, for example, fully electrified its 16,359-strong bus fleet—more than twice the size of Sydney’s fleet, which is Australia’s largest—in under a decade.
The report says that electric buses are commercially available, economically viable, and popular with commuters. They have multiple advantages over diesel-fuelled buses, including reduced CO2 emissions, noise, and air pollution.
The report says that electric buses are extremely popular with Australians. Polling by The Australia Institute shows that more than seven out of ten (71%) of Victorians support the target of a zero-emissions bus fleet by 2030, with similar levels of support for local procurement of electric buses.
Daniel Bleakley is a clean technology researcher and advocate with a background in engineering and business. He has a strong interest in electric vehicles, renewable energy, manufacturing and public policy.