Commuters may notice a new ‘car’ smell on their way to work in coming weeks, as the ACT’s first battery-electric bus hits the road.

The first of a dozen Chinese-made Yutong E12s that are on a five-year lease to Transport Canberra commenced service this week, on Wednesday 25 January.

Three more are currently being fitted with the final touches required before rolling out, including MyWay machines and bike racks.

Minister for Transport Chris Steel marked this as an important milestone in the ACT government’s commitment to a zero-emissions public transport system by 2040.

“We’ve been ambitious with our investment program to deliver this technology, with 11 more battery-electric buses to begin operations across Canberra in the coming weeks and procurement to purchase 90 more underway,” said Mr Steel.

CW journalist Anja de Rozario rode the first battery-electric bus in a maiden voyage for members of the media on Wednesday.

One notable feature is the addition of USB charging ports for handheld devices above each seat. Another is the noticeable lack of noise as the bus pulled up to the kerb.

“It’s whisper-quiet,” commented one passenger. For pedestrians and visually impaired members of the community, it may be too quiet.

Transport Canberra’s executive branch manager of planning and delivery, Sarah Taylor-Dayus, addressed the matter.

“This vehicle has an audio setting. When it starts to move up to 25km per hour, you will hear a sound that’s designed for coming into the stop, pulling out of the stop, traffic lights, etc., so people can hear that they have a slow-moving vehicle behind them,” she said.

The new buses will be based at Tuggeranong depot. Yutong is also supplying charging infrastructure as part of the delivery of this new technology.

Ms Taylor-Dayus said the electric buses are able to travel 400km, or 12 hours, on a full charge.

With 10 batteries across the roof and back of each vehicle, she said the electric buses can be partially charged in as little as half an hour, and Transport Canberra will be closely monitoring how long to charge the buses for peak efficiency as they roll out.

“The data we get out of this will inform our purchases in the future,” she said.

Transport Canberra will have the option to purchase the buses outright at the end of the lease, or opt out, allowing for technological advances over the next five years.

When will the non-accessible Renault buses retire?

The old orange Renault buses will remain in service for a while longer, despite the introduction of electric buses.

Supply chain issues experienced by manufacturer, Scania, disrupted the arrival of 26 leased low-emissions diesel buses, which were expected for delivery by the end of 2022.

These leased low-emissions diesel buses, combined with the new electric buses, were intended to ensure the ACT’s bus services were compliant with accessibility requirements in the short term.

“The delay in the delivery of the 26 low-emissions diesel buses means that a small number of old non-accessible diesel Renault buses can’t be completely phased out of our fleet immediately,” Mr Steel said.

“Fully compliant low-emissions diesel buses are now expected to be delivered throughout the first half of this year, which will replace the remaining Renault buses progressively over the first half of this year.

“While a total of 93 per cent of our city’s buses are already compliant with disability access requirements set out under the Disability Discrimination Act, unfortunately the old orange Renault diesel buses will continue to be used on the bus network for a short period to maintain services for the community until the replacement buses arrive,” he said.

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