First look: Brisbane Metro’s new depot the largest facility in country

Brisbane Metro’s 10-hectare depot will produce enough daily energy to power to 280 homes and will operate 24/7.

The Brisbane Metro project has taken another step forward with the unveiling of the charging depot which will keep the city’s new public transport system running.

Brisbane City Council will finish construction on the largest electric bus depot in the country, in Rochedale in Brisbane’s outer south, by the end of this year.

The 10-hectare depot will initially be able to charge 60 Metro vehicles, but can expand to as many as 100. It was built with 500 tonnes of structural steel and 25km of cabling.

An artist's impression of how the new Brisbane Metro electric bus charging depot in Rochedale will look once it is operational next year. Photo: Supplied.

Councillor Ryan Murphy, council’s transport chair, said the depot also has 2339 solar panels on the admin and maintenance buildings – which will generate 1 megawatt of energy daily.

“That’s enough energy to power 280 homes while the reduced carbon emissions are the equivalent of taking more than 500 cars off the road,” Cr Murphy said.

“While that is a significant amount of green power being put into the grid, it is only about one-third of what this facility will need in terms of charging.

“So the rest of that green energy we will buy from the energy grid and support renewable energy projects around Queensland.”

Brisbane Metro services new depot is nearing completion

The Brisbane Metro project will create two new public transport lines across 21km of existing busway infrastructure, and use 19 bus stations.

Some Metro vehicles have already arrived and been tested but more are currently on ships headed for Australia – but they will need to be checked and tested before being put to use.

Brisbane City Council’s Major Projects General Manager Steve Hammer (left), Civic Cabinet Chair for Transport Cr Ryan Murphy (centre), and the first trained female Brisbane Metro driver Liesl Hales (right) at the new bus depot in Rochedale. Picture: Matthew Poon

Brisbane City Council hopes to run a limited-stop Metro service initially from midway through next year, before ramping up to full services on both Metro lines by December 2024.

“It will be turn-up-and-go high frequency public transport that will run every five minutes at the peak, and importantly it will be zero emissions technology,” Cr Murphy said.

“About a third of a city’s carbon emissions come from transport, so we can’t decarbonise our economy unless we decarbonise our public transport.”

The site features 60 plug-in slow chargers and five fast chargers. Photo: Matthew Poon.

Cr Murphy said Metro vehicles would be charging at the Rochedale depot all day, every day.

“This depot will be operating 24/7 because Brisbane Metro will be operating 24/7. Our vehicles will be here charging at all times,” he said.

“The charging technology that Hitachi has provided us allows us to remotely monitor the state of charge for each individual Metro vehicle.

“So we can intelligently charge them at times when the grid price is lower and it is more affordable to buy energy, or there is more green energy in the system.

“We know there will be more Metro vehicles out in the field during the peak hours so we will make sure we manage our energy requirements in accordance with that.”

The site features 60 plug-in slow chargers, designed to optimise Metro vehicles’ battery life. But it also has five fast chargers which can recharge an electric bus in under seven minutes.