Why are WA’s diesel buses about to go extinct?

The last diesel Transperth bus will enter service on Wednesday, marking the advent of electric buses that will slowly replace the entire 1800-strong fleet over the next two decades.

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti and Premier Roger Cook toured the final bus “TP3608” at the Volgren bus manufacturing facility in Malaga on Wednesday morning.

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti in the last ever diesel bus to be manufactured in WA - TP3608.Credit: Hamish Hastie

About 18 electric buses are already travelling routes in the Perth CBD and Joondalup, where depots have been geared up for their charging requirements.

The next tranche of buses will head to suburban routes, with charging infrastructure soon to be complete at the Malaga depot.

The initial cost of upgrading Transperth infrastructure will come from a $250 million bucket of state and federal money announced in the last term of parliament.

That money will be spent on delivering 130 electric buses and infrastructure at several depots.

The state will announce a further $61.9 million in the June budget to help shift manufacturing to fully electric.

“This is a very big initiative for the state,” Saffioti said.

“It means there’s far less CO2 emissions, and every diesel bus on the network uses around 22,000 litres of diesel fuel each year – that equates to around 40 tons of CO2 emissions.

“Electric buses, of course, emit no CO2 emissions.”

The last-ever diesel bus to be manufactured in WA - TP3608.Credit: Hamish Hastie

Electric buses cost about $1 million to make – $400,000 more than diesel buses – but Saffioti said the new buses saved about $1 million in maintenance costs and saved fuel over the same 18-20 year lifespan.

Saffioti said each electric bus could travel up to 400 kilometres on each charge, depending on air conditioning use and how hilly a route was.

A full charge takes about four hours.

She said the fleet would not need to grow to cover routes that required buses to travel more than 400 kilometres.

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