The new ABB chargers are part of Busways ongoing investment in infrastructure and resourcing to scale up ZEBs under Transport for NSW’s zero emissions bus program.

Busways Managing Director Byron Rowe said it was another step in the journey to transition to electric buses.

“These chargers will power our first 12 electric buses and more as they arrive,” he said.

“Since receiving our first electric bus, we’ve now run over 100,000 electric bus kilometres on western Sydney bus routes, we’re learning all the time about economies and feeding that back into the project,” Mr Rowe said.

Busways has been researching and preparing for transition since 2018 and was the first to receive Aussie built zero emissions buses from Custom Denning in 2021 at Busways Penrith Depot.

“We’ve invested in significant infrastructure works at our Penrith Depot including earthworks, underground cabling, a new transformer, reconfiguring of the depot and trialling our VEMO energy optimisation solution to future proof the power supply.

That world first project to better facilitate the integration of electrified bus depots with the energy market was unveiled recently by the Minister for Transport David Elliott and Transport for NSW COO Howard Collins.

Funded under Transport for NSW’s Zero Emissions Bus program, the project was developed by Busways with Australian software and advisory company Evenergi in close partnership with Transport for NSW and Endeavour Energy.

The solution will enable direct integration between Endeavour’s energy distribution network and Busways’ depot in Penrith to optimise electric bus charging. It creates a bridge between the traditional operations of the bus depot, the depot charging infrastructure and the energy retail and distribution markets.

While there are energy management systems at a depot level, this system uses sophisticated software tools and real-time energy monitoring to connect the depot to the wider distribution network via direct communication with the energy provider’s assets.

“We’re focused on achieving Transport for NSW’s zero emissions targets for our fleet. To completely transition from diesel to electric, we need to rethink how we could work with the energy sector to create a sustainable framework for full depot electrification,” Mr Rowe explains.

“We’re developing forward-thinking solutions to for this transition and upskilling our NSW workforce for an electric fleet at the same time.”

For more details on the VEMO project, see this collaboration video below explaining how it works.