The Australian Government of New South Wales has announced it will invest $218.9 million over the next 7 years to begin decarbonizing its bus fleet.
The funding has been confirmed as part of the 2022-23 state budget and could gradually be fully completed by 2047.
New South Wales is targeting a fully shifted fleet by 2047 and will change the transition by 2035 in the Greater Sydney, Outer Metro area by 2040 and regional NSW by 2047. As reported, Greater Sydney alone has 8,000 buses in service and has planned for zero-emissions since 2019.
Treasurer Matt Kean said the NSW Government would further set aside nearly $2 billion to begin the NSW-wide transition and invest in local jobs, subject to consideration of the final business case.
“The NSW government is committed to delivering the benefits of zero-emission buses statewide and ensuring NSW becomes a global leader in this area,” said Kean.
“This investment includes funding of approximately $84 million for transition planning, including upgrading the power grid at 11 Transport for NSW bus depots,” he said.
The NSW government wants buses to be produced locally and said the gradual transition also gave local companies “more time to prepare further for the bus revolution”. Bus manufacturers around Sydney so far are BusTech, Custom Denning or Nexport, with some having promised to open more local factories soon.
NSW added that it is “on track to have more than 200 zero-emission buses operational by mid-2023 and has not ordered single-story diesel buses for Greater Sydney since 2019.”
This June, the state announced an increase in its EV budget by approximately $38 million, with a focus on expanding its network of high-speed charging points and homes.
An estimated $38 million has been announced as part of the latest budget and is said to bring the NSW Government’s total EV investment, bundled under the NSW Electric Vehicle Strategy, to a total of approximately $633 million.
