Daimler’s bus division has been in Australia for more than a decade, but has just received it’s largest single order in the country yet. Diamler busses will provide 44 of their Euro VI chassis.
The chassis are produced in the Spanish plant of Daimler Buses at Sámano and subsequently equipped with bodies from either Volgren or Gemilang.
The buses are to be used in Sydney.
Transit System is an Australian-based international transport company which operates in five of Australia’s biggest cities and which has obtained bus orders within some of the world’s biggest transport networks in London and Singapore.
The large order, also includes a comprehensive service package featuring, for example, on-site assistance by a service technician and driver training.
In terms of the body that rides on the chassis, Volgren, Australia’s largest bus builder, announced back in May that they have begun their electric push.
The company’s move into zero-emission vehicle technology involved a prototype which was expected to be completed by the middle of June.
Being built on a BYD chassis, it included a massive 324 kWh of batteries, substantially more than the 100kWh we see in the top-end electric cars.
This large battery enables the buses (loaded with passengers) to achieve more than 250 kilometres on a single charge. Recharging is remarkable fast for the battery capacity, taking between four and five hours.
After spending more than 5 years in R&D, the prototype itself has been a full 12 months in the making.
“We’ve known for some time that the bus industry was about to go through its biggest transformation in three or four decades. And we wanted to approach this shift with the best information at our disposal. We wanted to understand the products, the technologies and the solutions available in the market before beginning our work in earnest.
In the case of this first electric bus, we wanted to ensure that we built on a known quantity. We didn’t want to conduct a science experiment or work with a conglomerate of part suppliers attempting to provide a solution. We wanted something that will work from the start.”
Business Development Manager at Volgren, Jon Tozer,
With the order of 44 chassis from Daimler won’t be EV, let’s hope for an acceleration of future bus purchases by State Governments to go that way, especially once there’s a range of options available.
