Electric bus for Massey

Thanks to funding from round four of the EECA low emissions vehicles contestable fund, a fully electric bus will soon be servicing high density bus routes in Palmerston North.

Horizons transport manager Phil Hindrup says following a joint application to the fund, Tranzit Group successfully secured funding for the fully electric bus.

Phil said the bus will service the Massey University campus routes, and has the potential to reach over one million passengers a year. The bus will operate for a full day on a single overnight charge and its operation in Palmerston North will give Tranzit Group and other bus owners and operators around the country a much higher degree of certainty when it comes to the additional costs of running electric buses directly equivalent to existing diesel models.

Massey University director sustainability Dr Allanah Ryan says Massey was delighted to be a partner for the application as they were keen to extend the use of active public transport.

“Not only will an electric bus have great appeal for many of our staff and students, but will also contribute to teaching and research initiatives that Massey has been offering for many years from the Centre for Energy Research.”

She said the centre had been looking at the generation, storage and use for transport applications of renewable energy.

Horizons’ regional public transport plan (RPTP) 2025-25 sets the operational framework which supports the introduction of lower emission public transport vehicles.

Submissions during the recent review of the RLTP also highlighted the community desire for the region to focus practices that reduced the environmental effects from the land transport system and move towards adopting new technology that reduces carbon emissions.

An action from the RPTP is to investigate costs for zero emissions vehicles with a view to introduce zero emission buses on selected public transport units where a viable business case exists.