BusTech Group is already running a number of its hybrid buses on the public transport network in Adelaide.

Co-located with sister company Brabham Automotive in Adelaide, South Australia, BusTech Group is gearing up to produce at least 60 electric buses for the NSW Government over the next 18 months after its recent inclusion on a list of approved electric bus suppliers.

It also has orders for electric buses in Queensland, which it aims to start delivering in the second half of this year.

BusTech says it is the only Australian bus company locally manufacturing zero-emission buses for the NSW market.

Its 12.5-metre ZDi electric bus has been designed, engineered and will be built in Australia.

The all-electric buses aimed at the NSW market will use a Proterra battery pack and drivetrain following a partnership with the US company.

Owned by  South Australia-based Fusion Capital, which also owns Brabham Automotive, the company rebranded as BusTech Group in December following the purchase of Queensland-based Bustech by its Edinburgh-based Precision Buses in 2019.

BusTech Group executive chairman Christian Reynolds said the two bus manufacturers first collaborated under a licensing agreement back in 2017.

“We could see the opportunity to take more of a leading position within the bus space so we worked through a transaction to acquire Queensland-based business Bustech to look at more of a national manufacturing and supplier footprint,” he said.

“Fusion Capital saw the opportunity from the closure of Holden to bring together Tier 1 supply capability to basically look at how we could create a business from the stalled capacity within the vehicle space and that’s what has allowed us to move quite quickly.

“We went from four vehicles built in 2016 to a run rate now where we are building between 250 and 300 a year.”

The company has almost 300 staff with about 170 at a manufacturing plant on the Gold Coast, 110 in Adelaide and the remainder supporting national fleet operations and business development activities interstate.

It also has a manufacturing partner, Elphinstone, in Tasmania, which builds BusTech’s designed and engineered bus the XDi for the Tasmanian market.

Until now, BusTech Group’s commercial production has focused on hybrid diesel/electric buses, often in partnership with international OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) such as Scania.

It is now switching its attention to all-electric buses and has a hydrogen bus in the project scope and design phase.

BusTech already has a number of all-electric prototypes, one of which runs on the Adelaide Metro North Adelaide connector route.

The NSW government recently committed to transitioning its entire bus fleet to zero emissions within the decade, starting with 120 electric buses in 2021, and ultimately planning to convert all 8,000 buses in its fleet by 2030.