Auckland switching buses to electric

Twelve Auckland buses will be electric by the end of this year.

Auckland Transport and its operator NZ Bus have agreed to switch all red CityLINK bus services to electric buses from the end of the year as part of Auckland’s Low Emission Bus Roadmap,

“Electrifying Auckland’s CityLINK buses will help improve air quality by reducing pollution from black carbon and nitrogen oxide emitted by the current diesel vehicles,” mayor Phil Goff says.

“Black carbon is associated with health problems and has been found in Queen Street at levels higher than in some major European and US cities, so it’s a priority for us to address this issue.

“The introduction of these new fully electric buses is also a step toward electrifying the rest of Auckland’s bus fleet, which when completed will stop around 93,000 tonnes of CO2 entering the atmosphere every year.”

Goff says that two years ago he committed Auckland to ensuring that all replacement buses purchased from 2025 are non-carbon emitting.

“With an incentive scheme from central government similar to their feebate to include electric cars, we could bring forward the transition to a fully electric bus fleet, which would be a significant indicator of our commitment to a carbon-free city.”

Six electric buses will also be introduced on Waiheke Island this year.

Auckland Council environment and climate change committee chair Richard Hills says moving to a fully electric bus fleet is critical if Auckland is to meet its emissions reduction targets.

Planning committee chair Chris Darby says Aucklanders will soon enjoy a much more breathable downtown area.

Auckland Transport chair Adrienne Young-Cooper says an electric bus was tried on the CityLINK route in 2018 to see how it would cope with the stop-and-go nature of the route and came through with flying colours.

“The CityLINK buses carry more than 1.6 million customers each year and provide an essential link within city centre and with a growing business and entertainment hub in Wynyard Quarter.”

NZ Bus chief executive Barry Hinkley says the 12 buses are coming from Zhejiang CRRC Electric Vehicle Co Ltd (China Rail).

“These are the first of a large number of state-of-the-art electric buses that NZ Bus will bring to New Zealand in the next few years as our diesel replacement programme accelerates.

“The new buses will be air conditioned and feature two plus one seat configuration in the front section of the bus and wide rear doors to improve customer experience with faster boarding and alighting, allowing more passengers and faster trips on typically short journeys.”

The removal of 12 diesel buses will reduce greenhouse gas emissions equal to nearly 300 cars.