None of the Otago Regional Council’s buses are electric, and while there are moves to change this, it is not likely to happen in the immediate future. It was not possible to estimate the cost of changing its fleet of about 100 buses across Dunedin and Queenstown to electric vehicles, but staff believed the purchase of a new electric bus was considerably more than a fossil-fuelled bus. Introducing electric buses would require infrastructure changes to enable batteries to be recharged. The switch could require an increased fleet size, as buses would need to be rotated throughout the day so their batteries could be recharged, Mr Maloney said. It was likely the move away from carbon-powered to more sustainable fuels would happen over a period of years as older buses were replaced, he said.

Source: Otago Daily Times January 29, 2021 14:26 UTC