Transperth, the public transport authority serving Perth, Western Australia, has deployed the first of 90 new battery-electric buses as part of its ongoing effort to transition its fleet toward zero-emission vehicles. The initial 11 buses have entered service in suburban routes, with the full rollout expected to be completed in the first half of 2026.
The deployment builds on the city’s existing electric bus program, which began with 18 vehicles operating on the Central Area Transit (CAT) routes within the Perth CBD. The newly added buses are based at Transperth’s Malaga depot, which is undergoing a $12 million AUD infrastructure upgrade to accommodate 110 electric buses. The facility upgrades include the installation of a solar array, battery storage systems, and charging towers, with 16 chargers already operational and additional units to follow later this year.
“We’ve had electric buses operating on the CBD Cat bus routes since September last year, but now people catching buses in the suburbs will be jumping on board too,” said Western Australia’s Transport Minister Rita Saffioti. “We’ve now delivered on our election commitment to stop the production of diesel buses, and that means the community will start to see more and more electric buses operating on the network.”
Although specific details about the electric bus models have not been disclosed, government officials stated that each vehicle has a range of up to 300 kilometres per charge. The buses are expected to significantly reduce emissions and noise in residential areas.
In addition to Malaga, the state government is planning further electrification upgrades at depots in Karrinyup and Claisebrook, with the first electric buses scheduled to begin operating out of Karrinyup early next year. Authorities are also exploring the development of a new electric bus depot in Bayswater to support the long-term transition to cleaner public transport.