1 July 2020

Chinese electric bus in mix for zero-emissions fleet

| Ian Bushnell
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Yutong electric bus

The Chinese-built Yutong electric bus being trialled in Canberra at the Civic interchange. Photo: Ian Bushnell.

A Transport Canberra transition plan to zero-emission buses will be handed down in August, and the Chinese-made electric vehicle now being trialled is likely to be in the mix.

The Yutong Electric E12 bus was rolled out last November and has been running all over Canberra to more favourable reviews than the previous electric bus trialled in the ACT which had reliability issues.

Transport Minister Chris Steel today provided an update on the trial, reporting that the Yutong bus had so far covered 4600 kilometres and completed 400 hours of service, travelling between 160km and 400km per day. Charging time varies between one and seven hours depending on the state of charge at the end of each day.

”The feedback from drivers is that it’s very comfortable and smooth to drive and very quiet,” Mr Steel said.

It is based at the Tuggeranong depot for charging but the new Woden depot being constructed and due to come online next year will be able to support a large fleet of electric vehicles if electric buses are the preferred model recommended by the steering committee.

He said a zero-emissions steering group is working on the transition plan, which will decide on the mix of technologies required, including how many electric buses should be acquired in the short term with the infrastructure already available in the ACT, as well as the infrastructure required to support an entire fleet.

There is funding for 84 new buses over the next three years, but by 2025 diesel will not be an option.

The government expects the transition to be complete by 2040 to help meet the ACT’s zero-emissions goals.

”We’re looking forward to replacing every single bus in the ACT with a zero-emissions bus,” Mr Steel said.

The transition plan will also determine the skills needed to operate and maintain the fleet of buses here in Canberra, including training diesel mechanics to work on electric vehicles.

Mr Steel said running an electric fleet would be cheaper in the long term, and the unit costs were coming down over time.

The ACT has paid $122,000 to trial the Yutong, which has a range of 400 km, with options to extend the lease or buy at the end of the 12 month trial.

Mr Steel said Yutong was the world’s biggest bus maker and there were 16,000 Yutong electric buses running in Shenzhen.

”There are huge numbers of these buses being produced,” he said. ”There is no excuse for governments not to be thinking about transitioning their fleets to electric vehicles to reduce carbon emissions.”

He said using electric buses would also mean cleaner air, with diesel fumes and their dangerous particulates no longer being emitted into the atmosphere.

The steering group comprises former ACT Minister for Climate Change and Transport Simon Corbell, Dr Lachlan Blackhall from the Australian National University, Professor Peter Newman from Curtin University, and John Stewart from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.

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Capital Retro5:22 pm 02 Jul 20

“There is 0 reason why these can’t be made in Australia. Stop getting them made by slave Labour in a communist dictorship with a disgusting human rights record the world has never seen before….”

Sounds like Victoria. Spelling especially.

Capital Retro10:48 am 02 Jul 20

I don’t recall diesel powered buses ever being made entirely in Australia. There were a lot built in Brisbane over imported chassis and scuttles (this was the “bones” of the bus, engine and transmission). They were taken off ships in Sydney, fitted with an improvised seat and driven to Brisbane via the New England Highway with the driver totally exposed to the weather, usually wearing a leather coat and goggles. They were then fitted with custom bodies etc.
I have a friend whose father once drove a new tractor from Sydney to Goondiwindi – it took 3 days. That’s how things used to be done.

Bustech do make a model that is a full integral. Eg not a separate chassis and body but of course the major components like engine, gear box, axles etc are all imported. All with most of the materials it is built from.

Capital Retro5:20 pm 02 Jul 20

I think modern construction techniques have made the chassis redundant. It was replaced by monocoque and now integrated which seems a better way of describing it. Mack Trucks Australia used to have a large factory in Brisbane where they made Mack trucks and custom buses using Mack engines/power trains.

Capital Retro8:59 pm 01 Jul 20

Actually an Australian initiative (with NZ input) created the world’s first solar bus in Adelaide. A similar thing was trialed in Brisbane. What isn’t said in this article is that they were prone to breakdowns and they eventually went to a better place.

http://gridedgenews.com/tindo-bus-summary/

Who made the solar panels, the electric motors the batteries and the electronic comments that went into the control system?

Capital Retro10:50 pm 02 Jul 20

TIndo manufactured the solar panels in Adelaide. The recharging power came from the Tindo panels on the bus depot roof. More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_bus

I am sure the ACT government were aware of it but the EuroTram salesmen had already stitched them up.

This sounds promising.

Now if a third of Canberra could get their local bus service back, it might even prove popular for commuters and get them out of their cars and back onto their bus.

Capital Retro11:36 am 01 Jul 20

According to Yutong’s website, “zero emissions” means buses use electricity to power the battery. This means no internal combustion engine, no oil changes and no exhaust fumes.

Of course, most of China’s electricity is produced by coal-fired generators and last time I looked this isn’t emission free.

So do tell CR – what products are out there that are anything but rudimentary in nature that don’t have some form of embedded emissions in their production.

One step at a time towards a better future, one step at a time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and we won’t collectively as a jurisdiction, a country or indeed a world get to a lower emission outcome if we don’t start somewhere.

Capital Retro4:52 pm 01 Jul 20

It’s being bought because of “zero emissions” but noting that these buses will mostly be charged at night when there is zero solar power generation they will be far from “emission free”. And using “Rome wasn’t built in a day” as an analogy is a bad omen.

Hydro doesn’t stop when the sun goes down and nor does wind.

Capital Retro8:52 pm 01 Jul 20

It does when the water goes down and the wind doesn’t blow on cold, frosty nights.

When was the last time the snowy hydro stopped because it run out of water.

Oh and coal powered fire stations stop when miners go on strike, or there are production issues or an accident on say the railway line through Maitland.

Capital Retro11:05 pm 02 Jul 20

The snowy hydro dams are rarely full. Eucumbene is currently about 30% and Blowering about 56%. A lot of the inflow so far this year has been from snowmelt and when the snow stops as the warmists insist it will the dams will go dry. I am sure there have been restrictions of electricity generation because of low water levels in the past but I can’t recall coal-fired power stations ever stopping because miners go on strike (it’s along time since one of those happened too). Which railway line through Maitland are you referring to? There are several – you need a trip to the Hunter Valley to get up to speed JC. Coal will thankfully be around for a long time yet.

What a pity we can’t manufacture our own buses here in Australia. But of course, making actual things is anathema isn’t it, much easier to dig stuff up and sell it then buy the value-added product that someone else is profiting from. I wonder if lithium mined here has returned in the form of the batteries in these buses.

Capital Retro1:55 pm 01 Jul 20

China is still a developing country and as a result she gets huge concessions on emissions until 2030. Go figure that.

We do make buses here. But all the electronics and technology is from China. And this is not just Australian issue, London has electric buses with the running gear from China.

ABB who are European (think Swiss based) make an electric bus systems but think their technology it is closer to a trolley bus or tram than it is to a city bus with charging stations as opposed to charging in a depot and doing a shift on a full charge like the Chinese companies make.

I have an idea.

Now that we have one, lets pull it apart, study it and build our own ones in Australia.

That way we send less money to China, help local industry and advance our country on the stolen technology of others.

China has no ethical issues about doing it to other countries so surely they can’t complain about us doing it to them.

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