Amazing. Not only is our rail network the embarrassment of the rest of the country but now our bus fleet will be too.
The government might claim to be âtech agnosticâ but cancelling the ZEB portion of the TMR fleet and replacing it with more diesels is quite the opposite. Anyone who has even been a passenger on one of the operator owned EV buses in QLD can vouch for the fact that theyâre much nicer experience for a passenger.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Kineticâs commitment to have a 100% zero emission global fleet by 2035. Maybe this government will mandate that they need to use good olâ diesel in QLD?
Edit: I just read through the comments on the Courier Mail facebook page - even the pretty conservative leaning audience is generally unhappy with this move from the LNP. Turns out people donât like breathing in diesel emissions at busway stops, who would have thought!
From what I know Kinetic Surfside is expecting to replace the fleet of BYD Optimus used on the 777 Airport Express with King Long GBVs because of an extremely lacklustre reliability⌠In terms of body.
Yeah the electric part of the fleet is actually quite good but Volgren simply made a bad product, full stop.
Through 2024, we continued to engage industry and operators through individual meetings, updates and briefings.
The feedback and information received to date has been invaluable.
If you are an industry stakeholder and would like to know more, please email [email protected].
Project status
Through the programâs planning phase we:
consulted industry and other key stakeholders
considered how to develop a sustainable pipeline of local manufacturing
investigated and confirmed the infrastructure required for a zero emission ecosystem
investigated other technologies, such as hydrogen fuel cells for future stages.
The team is working with QIC and Queensland Treasury, as well as industry stakeholders, to deliver new zero emission buses, build new state-owned depots, upgrade suitable existing depots and help transition industry to the new technology.
Procurement of battery electric buses
A multi-stage procurement process is underway for the supply of state-owned battery electric buses.
An expression of interest (EOI) was released in August 2024 receiving strong interest from the manufacturing industry.
The EOI submissions are now being evaluated.
The new zero emission buses will replace aging diesel and CNG buses in operation on the Translink network. Itâs expected more than 400 buses will be locally manufactured, with the final number to be decided through the competitive procurement process.
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It will be interesting to see what happens with Kineticâs commitment to have a 100% zero emission global fleet by 2035
Confirmation over the weekend that Kineticâs new $15m Noosa Depot (which was initially supposed to be all-electric but now only diesel buses) has still been built with a charging gantry and the necessary electrical infrastructure to support ZEB ops.
The Noosaville depot has been built with charging gantry infrastructure and electrical transformers already installed to support zero-emission buses or other future transport technologies.
