NZ-made e-bus hits the road

A New Zealand designed and made electric bus, the E-City, took its first passengers on a trial ride during the Bus and Coach Association conference in Rotorua on Tuesday.

Developed and manufactured by Zemtec (Zero Emission Technologies) in Auckland, the bus is a new development for sustainable transport in New Zealand.

Zemtec chief executive John Bayes says the E-City is the first fully electric bus designed entirely from the ground up and created and built here. 

“It’s a complete new bus design. We’ve been able to take advantage of the new technology and make it much lighter and more comfortable, with a completely flat floor running from the front to the back of the bus.”

“The New Zealand Government and most Australian state governments plan to completely decarbonise their public transport bus fleets over the next 10-15 years. This will create considerable demand for new zero-emissions buses, so we are really excited about what we have developed and how we may contribute to meeting that demand.”

Bayes says the E-City is a true new generation zero-emissions bus run on batteries with support from solar panels built into the roof of each bus. It contains many innovative design features which make it 30% more energy-efficient than any other e-bus on the New Zealand market. 

Most current electric bus are based on old diesel bus designs which are considerably heavier than the E-City. The E-City will carry more passengers at a much lighter weight than its competitors, which means that its road user charges, charging costs and driver training costs are also lower. It can also travel around 300km before it needs recharging.

The price of the Zemtec E-City bus is currently being finalised, but while it will cost more than the e-buses being imported from China, its operating costs, and whole of life costs, will be “significantly lower”, Bayes says. 

Zemtec is taking expressions of interest from bus operators in New Zealand and Australia and there’s a lot of interest, he says.

“We’re currently validating our sales projections through the interest we are receiving and have arrangements in place to scale up manufacturing quickly, if required.”

Zemtec’s parent company, Bayes Coachlines Limited, has received $302,000 from the Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority’s (EECA) Low Emissions Transport Fund towards the construction and trial of the E-City bus.

EECA transport portfolio manager Richard Briggs says the interest with the fund is in bringing new options to market to continue to accelerate transport decarbonisation.

“We are looking forward to seeing how the innovative design and build of the E-City performs. Well done to the team on reaching this milestone.”

Zemtec is in discussions with Auckland Transport on plans to trial the E-City bus on commercial routes in Auckland next month.

The E-City was officially launched by transport minister Michael Wood at the Energy Events Centre in Rotorua on October 11.