New green machines
Metlink’s electric bus fleet is growing
Metlink is expanding its electric vehicle fleet. This programme reduces the carbon footprint of the bus fleet, bringing Greater Wellington a step closer to achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.
How are we progressing?
In December 2022, we reached an exciting milestone. 21% of Metlink’s fleet is now fully electric – that’s 94 buses!
Metlink’s goal is for all core bus services to be electric by 2030, and to have an emissions-free fleet by 2035. Nine more buses will be arriving in 2023. We are tracking our progress towards bus fleet decarbonisation, and report on our emissions performance every year.
So what effect is this having?
Our latest annual report, released September 2022, shows that Metlink’s new electric buses have resulted in cleaner air on the Golden Mile, and reduced emissions across the whole bus fleet.
Read on to find out how Metlink is helping Wellingtonians breathe easier, and reducing the region’s carbon footprint.
Milestones
- July 2018 - Tranzurban started running 10 electric double decker buses mainly on Route 1
- September 2021 - 25 single deck electric buses were added to Route 2 on the Metlink bus network by NZ Bus
- February 2022 - Route 2 was the first route to be fully electric
- April 2022 - 16 single deck electric buses were added on the Metlink bus network by NZ Bus.
- May 2022 - Tranzurban’s 21 electric buses started running on Route 1 and some trips on Routes 7, 23 and 32x
- June 2022 - 10 single deck electric buses were added by NZ Bus.
- July 2022 - a total of 71 electric buses in operation. 51 electric single deckers (NZ Bus) & 20 electric double decker buses (Tranzurban).
NOx emissions decreased dramatically in July 2018, when many older diesel buses were replaced with modern, lower-emitting models.
The graph shows a steady decline in emissions from January 2021, as more electric buses have replaced diesel buses.
The results from 2021/22 show that air quality is improving on Manners Street at a much faster rate than on the urban motorway, as more buses travelling through the Golden Mile become electric.
The recent downward trend shows we are now using less CO2-e per km travelled. This is thanks to the electric buses we have introduced to the network.
EV facts and figures
- The AX fleet is made up of 3-Axle, 70 passenger battery electric buses
- The model is Yutong E13
- The buses can operate through the day, and are slow charged at night
- Full climate air conditioning is fitted in each vehicle
- Each bus is fitted with additional luggage stowage over the front wheel arches and opposite the rear door, to suit airport passengers
- Each bus has a single wheelchair position and is fitted with a bike rack
- These are 3-Axle, 75 passenger battery electric buses
- The model is eT12-max: ‘e’ for electric, ‘T’ for twin rear axle, 12 for 12-metre base chassis length, and ‘max’ representing the extended range
- A fully depleted battery will take approximately 5 ½ hours to charge
- The buses can operate through the day and are slow charged at night, or vice versa
- Full climate air conditioning is fitted in these vehicles
- Bike racks are fitted on each vehicle
- These buses are the first to provide 2 wheelchair positions, situated opposite each other at the front of the bus
- These are 2-Axle, 90 passenger battery electric buses
- The model is UT200RHDF
- They are 10.5 metres long (22% shorter than a standard large bus)
- These buses can operate through the day using a fast-charging system
- Seven to ten minutes of Fast Charge time provides around 3 hours of operation with additional depot slow charging between duties
- Bike racks are fitted on each vehicle