Metro's electric vehicles revealed as Labor backs light rail

Light rail is the best option for Brisbane rather than the city council's proposed Brisbane Metro, Labor's lord mayoral candidate Pat Condren has declared.

Mr Condren slammed LNP lord mayor Adrian Schrinner's announcement on Sunday that electric vehicles have been selected to operate on the $944 million Brisbane Metro, saying Labor's 2016 election promise of light rail was "right on the money".

The Brisbane Metro vehicles will have three carriages and be fully electric.

The 60 electric vehicles will cost $100 million more than the council's original $90 million budget, and will be manufactured by a joint bid of companies Volgren and HESS.

However, Cr Schrinner said the additional cost was built into Brisbane Metro's original $944 million budget as part of its contingency fund, meaning the project was still on budget.

Cr Schrinner said the electric vehicles were selected out of three final bids, two of which were for electric vehicles, and cost more due to the need to include charging stations in the total package.

The council's original $94 million budget for the Metro vehicles was based on an estimated quote for a diesel vehicle out of concern the technology for electric vehicles was not available.

It was a "pleasant surprise" to find the technology was available, Cr Schrinner said, and selecting an electric vehicle meant the total upfront costs would be off-set by their lower maintenance and operating costs in the long term.

"What we're seeing today is the latest in a series of PR exercises designed to dupe the voters of Brisbane," Mr Condren said of the announcement.

Mr Condren said green transport for Brisbane was a "terrific idea" but criticised the high cost and budget blowout, citing Kingsford Smith Drive's delays as reason for voters to be skeptical of the LNP administration's announcement.

"I think Labor's plan that we took to the election four years ago of light rail was right on the money," he said.

Cr Schrinner said light rail would be significantly worse for Brisbane, pointing to the delays and problems with Sydney's light rail system along George Street as an example.

"The Metro system is already designed to carry far more people than equivalent light rail [systems]," he said.

The Metro vehicle design unveiled by the lord mayor on Sunday will be tested with a single pilot vehicle manufactured in Eagle Farm, before a further 59 vehicles will be commissioned.

The three-carriage vehicles will be 24.4 metres long and 2.55 metres wide, capable of carrying 150 people or 180 for events.