Yutong Electric Buses Quietly Creeping into Australia

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More and more electric buses are coming into service in Brisbane, Queensland. In a recent video, Rado Trenciansky inspects a Yutong electric bus and interviews the Queensland and Northern New South Wales manager.

Of interest, he explains why it is taking so long to get the buses into service. Apparently, there is a lot more testing required by the Queensland government before the buses will be accepted as safe. It appears that governments are not prepared to look at the testing done elsewhere.

Comments from a driver: 

“Did my first shift on the Yutong electric bus last week. Stressful, as I picked it up in service on a give over/take over and only had 2 minutes to get going. …

“Training was months ago, so the first few trips were very uncomfortable until I eventually adjusted everything and got properly logged into the passenger information computer. A significantly different driver cabin to our Volvo diesel fleet (Europe vs China). Fantastic piece of kit, though. Beautifully quiet, with smooth & powerful acceleration and regenerative braking. I returned it to the depot with 63% charge remaining, so it easily got through 12 hours work from (presumably) a full overnight charge.”

It’s great to see that these buses are out of trial mode now and are actually being driven on roads with passengers. There appear to be a few in Brisbane CDB, a few in the Redlands area and some in the north of Brisbane. I hope they get noticed. I have seen nothing in the mainstream media about them or in the council updates that arrive in my mailbox every month. 

One fan commented: “If it was up to Australian politicians, we would have coal powered buses.” Thank goodness for forward-thinking councils and businesses. 


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David Waterworth

David Waterworth is a retired teacher who divides his time between looking after his grandchildren and trying to make sure they have a planet to live on. He is long on Tesla [NASDAQ:TSLA].

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