October / November 2020 – $9.50 incl. GST
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FUSO'S NEW ROSA BREAKS COVER
ANDREW CONSTANCE INTERVIEW • HITACHI'S LATEST FLEET CHARGE TECH OPTARE'S ELECTRIC FUTURE • OGDENS SCHOOL BUS FLEET
CONNECT and be in the know
Connectivity is nothing less than a productivity revolution, and it is now offered as standard with every new Volvo delivered. Instant data and easy-to-access reports give you an unparalleled insight to help you understand the health of your fleet and deliver a new level of control and fleet efficiency for your business. What’s more, with Connected Services a Volvo Bus Technical Specialist is never far away. Our dedicated service team can remotely diagnose problems to get your bus or coach fixed and back on the road faster than ever. They can even use the tool to work with you to develop customised preventative maintenance plans based on real data to ensure maximum uptime.
VOLVO CONNECTED SERVICES Optimise every day
001 Drivers Seat A HYDROGEN FUTURE IS ON THE HORIZON
E
very issue we sit down to write the editorial for Coach & Bus
and every issue It seems that the news on zero emission buses
just seems to grow exponentially, with every major vehicle manufacturer from
Toyota and Hyundai to Daimler, Volvo and Iveco announcing new battery electric or
hydrogen fuel cell projects, not to mention all of the start-up hopefuls from Tesla to Nikola and a herd of others who are lining up to ‘electrify’ our automotive future. Forgive us if it seems like we are
constantly rabbiting on about new age zero emission drive trains, but they are proliferating so intensely and so profusely that we just can’t avoid it. This is gathering momentum like an avalanche rolling down a snow covered mountain and it anyone doubts that we are headed for an electrified future then you are deluding yourself. When you sit down with the NSW Transport Minister, Andrew Constance
and he talks ebulliently about converting the state’s 8000 city route buses from internal combustion engines to zero emission power over the next 20 years, you know the shift is on and it’s on in full. This a conservative Liberal minister whose party has long railed against just about any ‘Green’ concept, and yet here he is mounting a major campaign that will cost somewhere north of $4billion on current pricing to rid our urban roads of diesel emissions.
But its not just in NSW, it is happening
everywhere. In Perth, in Melbourne
in Brisbane and across the globe with
the newsfeeds revealing more and more cities and jurisdictions eschewing
diesel powered buses and adding either battery electric or hydrogen fuel cell electric power.
When the world’s largest manufacturer
of heavy buses and trucks, Daimler links up with its key global commercial vehicle rival in Volvo, to form a joint venture to
said, ‘follow the money’, and with Daimler and Volvo investing about $AUD850 million between them (500million euros) in the project it makes a pretty compelling wad
of money to follow. The boards of Daimler and Volvo don’t sign off on investments like that without having total faith that what they are investing in will pay off. In other words they know that zero emission is
essential to their future vehicles and plans and that hydrogen will be a key part of those plans. It is interesting just how misunderstood hydrogen is and how little most people know about the earth’s most abundant
element. To extract hydrogen from water for use
in a fuel cell you need to apply electrolysis to the H2O. Electrolysis, however, is very expensive and the electrical input required account for about 80 per cent of the cost of usable hydrogen. This is why you hear about brown hydrogen and green hydrogen. Brown hydrogen is produced using power from coal fired power plants while green hydrogen uses electricity generated by renewable sources, like wind and solar. Clearly if you use brown hydrogen to power your fuel cell bus then it is not truly zero emission and sort of defeats the purpose. Another myth is that the hydrogen is burnt to create the power. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the fuel cell
there is no combustion, the hydrogen is remixed with oxygen using a cathode and an anode and an electrolyte membrane
enough could be produced to have vast amounts for export as well, sending it to
the many countries that don’t have the space or sunshine/wind to economically extract green hydrogen for their vehicles and other power needs. That means
critical mass, but is also means fuel for our future vehicle fleets domestically will be far more economical and practical, especially against diesel which experts predict will be eventually be priced out of existence. Seem fanciful? Well tell that to the boards of Toyota, Daimler, Hyundai, Iveco, Paccar et al. It I not fanciful and it is a whole closer than you think. Meanwhile in this issue of Coach & Bus we have a great array of stories, many focussing on those new zero
emission power sources. We interview the aforementioned NSW Transport Minister, Andrew Constance about his far sighted vision for a green bus future in the state.
While on the same green bent we take a look at Hitachi-ABB’s battery electric solutions for bus fleets, which the global
that generates an electric current, with
company is currently installing in Brisbane for the revolutionary Metro scheme. Still
The huge potential for a country like
of experience the UK company has in zero emission bus development.
the only emission being pure water vapour. That is a simplification but that is basically the way it is done. Australia is that we have an abundance of both potential solar and wind electricity generation and the very real potential to
produce vast amounts of hydrogen for use
commercialise hydrogen fuel cells and make the power source practical and
in fuel cells using that green power and water from that sea that we are ‘girt’ by. If you pressurise the hydrogen and turn it into a liquid it makes it easy to transport
As Watergate journalist Bob Woodward
of hydrogen that is ready to use in fuel
viable, then you know where the future is.
cells. This could be used domestically and
and we could be making vast amounts
in the electric arena we look at Optare’s upcoming electric buses and the decade
On a more conventional front, we take a close look at the new Fuso Rosa and see how it is likely to reinforce its sales
lead in the light bus market, and we head
to central west NSW to take a look at the impressive Ogdens Bus fleet and its many Hino buses.
All that and a whole lot more in this issue
of Coach & Bus , so enjoy the read and plug into the electric revolution.
005 www.truckandbus.net.au
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46 “OPTARE DEMONSTRATES ITS LONG TERM ELECTRIC CAPABILITY”
Issue 044
CONTENTS CONTACT DETAILS PO Box 7046 Warringah Mall NSW 2100
FEATURES
16
www.truckandbus.net.au admin@truckandbus.net.au Enquiries 02 9938 6408 Follow us on Twitter #truckandbusnews
LIGHT FANTASTIC
After more than ten years Fuso has delivered the first major overhaul for its popular and highly capable Rosa light duty bus, a move that should heat up the battle with Toyota’s Coaster as well as light bus offerings from Chinese makers Higer and Yutong in the sector.
22 e-MOTIONAL RESCUE
With a full scale move to embrace zero emission buses the challenge of putting charge into the batteries of large bus fleets has given operators another thing to consider. Hitachi ABB‘s Grid eMotion charging technology promises a better way of recharging buses. We take a look at the tech.
28 CONSTANCE CHANGE
We sit down with NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance in his office to find out more about the road to electric buses in Australia’s most populous state and a whole lot more.
Follow us on Facebook at Truck and Bus Australia
34 BUSH POETRY
After almost a quarter of a century as a country baker Eddie Ogden made an interesting and very different business decision in 1980 when he decided to buy a school bus run. Forty years later it is a decision that Eddie Ogden has never regretted. We take a look at Ogden’s and its inspirational founder and patriarch.
Publisher Jon Thomson admin@truckandbus.net.au Editor in Chief Peter Barnwell peter@truckandbus.net.au Art Director Fiona Meadows fiona@kududesign.com.au
40 TRUCK IT
WA based bus and coach builder, Able has made a name for itself making specialised buses capable of taking on all sorts of people moving tasks from rough outback roads to tough mining camps and doing it with buses and coaches built on truck chassis. We take a look at Able and some of the buses it has built for a variety of roles.
46 NO OVERNIGHT SUCCESS They say in the entertainment business that there is no such thing as an overnight success and UK builder Optare is more proof that there is no substitute for a bank of knowledge and experience, particular in the high tech electric bus realm.
Advertising Sales Jon Thomson Mobile: 0418 641 959 admin@truckandbus.net.au Contributing Writers Barry Flanagan, Sven Erik Lindsrand
52 TASSIE TIME TUNNEL
A bus collection in Tasmania has accumulated a collection of buses that trace much of the last 50 years of Volvo bus operations in Australia. We travel to the Apple Isle to take a look at the collection.
Contributing Photographers Mark Bean, Cristian Brunelli, Jan Glovac
52
REGULARS Coach & Bus Magazine is published under licence by Transport Publishing Australia and is distributed to road transport professionals, fleets, business professionals and the industry throughout Australia. All material contained herein including text, photography, design elements and format are copyright and cannot be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Grayhaze Pty Ltd is a member of the Copyright Agency Limited (1800 066 844). Editorial contributions are welcome for consideration. Contact the Editor or Publisher for guidelines, fees and level of interest. All unsolicited manuscripts must be accompanied by a stamp, addressed envelope for their return. We will not be held responsible for material supplied electronically. Proudly printed in Australia
Single copy price $9.50 incl. GST
01
DRIVER’S SEAT
Editor Peter Barnwell has his say on the growing technology tidal wave and what it might mean in the bus world.
04 UP FRONT We wrap up the key local and international bus and coach news that affects us as a global industry and where we are heading.
56 LCV We take a look at Nissan’s latest up spec dual cab Navara Ute the N-trek Warrior.
60 COMPANY CAR We take a drive in Hyundai’s Tucson Activ.
64 MONEY
Paul Clitheroe’s latest advice on finances.
WA BASED BUS AND COACH BUILDER, ABLE HAS MADE A NAME FOR ITSELF MAKING SPECIALISED BUSES
40
34 22
FORTESCUE DROPS THE H-BOMB - ORDERING FLEET OF HYDROGEN POWERED COACHES FOR PILBARA FORTESCUE MINING has announced it has ordered a fleet of zero emission hydrogen fuel cell powered coaches to transport personnel at its Christmas Creek mine in the Pilbara of WA, engaging hydrogen mobility and clean energy company, Hyzon Motors to power the hydrogen fuel cell-powered coaches as part of Fortescue’s commitment to accelerating emissions reduction in their mining operations. The vehicles will be a direct replacement for traditional diesel coaches and marks a first for fuel cell powered coaches which have previously generally been deployed on city cycles, where average speeds are much lower. Hyzon says higher powered fuel cells, which are typically deployed in trucks, will be used to ensure suitable performance from the hydrogen coaches which truck and Bus News understands will be based on newly released BLK electric coaches. Soon after announcing the contract win Hyzon also announced it has appointed a local company, HDrive as its Australian and NZ distributor. Hydrogen is emerging as a crucial component of the future energy landscape, with the heavy transport and equipment sector becoming a key target for the implementation of clean energy alternatives by the mining industry. 006 www.truckandbus.net.au
Craig Knight, the co-founder of Hyzon Motors, said that it was an honour to be entrusted with the important step in the decarbonisation journey being undertaken by a leading global mining company. “Hyzon Motors is committed to deploying not only zero emission vehicles, but also the most reliable vehicles operating in the Pilbara region of Western Australia,” said Knight. Knight also said that the appointment of HDrive is an important step in making hydrogen fuel cell powered commercial vehicles available to the Australian market, and the expertise and knowledge of the HDrive team will be invaluable in specifying the right vehicles for particular applications. “HDrive and Jason Pecotic played a key role in identifying and winning the Fortescue contract and we look forward to sealing many more deals for hydrogen fuel cell commercials vehicles in Australia in future,” said Knight. HDrive CEO Jason Pecotic said the company’s appointment as the Australian and New Zealand distributor for Hyzon Motors will mean Australian operators will be able to access the latest and most advanced zero emission hydrogen fuel cell technology to power electric commercial vehicles. “The Fortescue Metals contract
will see the latest technology BLK electric coaches equipped with Hyzon’s most advanced heavy duty truck fuel cells to meet the difficult and testing conditions the coaches will have to deal with in the rugged Pilbara environment,” said Pecotic. “Local expertise and knowledge combined with experience in sourcing and specifying vehicles for commercial operations means HDrive is ideally placed to deliver the best hydrogen fuel cell solutions for specific operating situations,” he said. “The BLK coaches which will be supplied to Fortescue are newly developed, dedicated electric coaches which will use the Hyzon hydrogen fuel cells to charge the vehicle’s batteries, and are not a retro fit diesel coach or a glider chassis delivered without a power train,” he added. “HDrive is able to work with Hyzon and vehicle makers to integrate hydrogen fuel cells to power the latest technology electric buses and trucks,” said Jason. Fortescue’s deputy CEO, Julie Shuttleworth, said that Fortescue’s history of developing and adopting innovation and technology has been key to achieving its industry-leading cost position and the company is applying this technology-first strategy to its hydrogen initiatives to ensure it remains at the forefront of the emerging industry.
“Fortescue’s mobile fleet represents around 400 to 450 million litres of diesel consumption per year and presents a significant opportunity for hydrogen to be used as a replacement fuel source to accelerate emissions reduction and diversify our energy mix,” Ms Shuttleworth said. Heavy transport was identified as one of the most promising applications for hydrogen in Australia’s “National Hydrogen Strategy”, which was commissioned by the COAG Energy Council in November 2019 and was also highlighted as highly impactful by the “Hydrogen for Transport” study commissioned by the Australian Department of Industry, Innovation and Science to investigate the factors in establishing hydrogen as a ubiquitous fuel in Australia by 2030. Hyzon Motors, is based in New York with operations in Australia, Asia and Europe, and has recently unveiled Hyzon Motors Europe, with fuel cell trucks currently being built in the Netherlands for European markets, while the Australian subsidiary will import fully-built trucks and buses, while it says its medium term goal is to build sufficient demand for fuel cell commercial vehicles within Australia to justify local assembly of trucks and buses powered by hydrogen.
FOTON BUS ENTERS AUSTRALIAN
ZERO EMISSION BUS MARKET
ANOTHER MAJOR Chinese brand, Foton has announced it will be selling a range of zero emission buses in Australia with both Hydrogen fuel cell and electric vehicles on the menu. After working with Chinese bus maker Yutong for a number of years, Neil Wang has changed brands and is now part of the team bringing Foton Bus.to Australia. Wang moved to Foton Bus Australia in July after a number of years with Yutong, helping to establish that highly succesful factory owned distributorship here. Wang is general manager of the new operation based in Sydney, which is a totally separate business to Foton’s Australian truck and ute distributorship based on Queensland’s Gold Coast. The new bus operation’s key goal is to bring Foton’s latest zero emission buses to Australia and Wang says it could be as close as next March with test and trials of its electric buses starting very soon. “We plan to have both hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric buses available in Australia and New Zealand and our team is working to provide after-sales support for our local Foton customers,” Neil Wang told Coach & Bus. Wang says that the push for hydrogen fueel cell vehicles is quite advanced in Australia and that there is a rapidly growing interest in zero emission buses on both sides of the Tasman. “Australia and New Zealand are quite advanced in the hydrogen industry and it has been produced here for many decades and I will believe Australia will be the leading
market for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the world,” Wang said. “Foton Bus wants to provide Australian and New Zealand bus operators a reliable product, strong after-sales service, and a ‘package solution’ for all zero emission bus requirements,” he added. “Foton’s target is to be the new energy bus solution provider for the Australian and New Zealand markets,” Wang said. Wang says that Foton Bus will initially offer a fully ADR compliant 12.4-metre hydrogen fuel-cell city bus along with an electric city bus in Australia by March next year. Later in 2021 Wang says the company will have a low floor battery electric powered 8.5-metre city bus along with a hydrogen fuel cell powered 12-metre. “Along with our partners we plan to offer the zero emission bus options as well as charging stations, hydrogen fuelling station infrastructure as well as finance
and leasing options,” Wang added. Foton Bus says it is working with Australia universities on research project to determine how zero emission buses will influence and affect public transport systems in Australia. Wang says that the focus of the Foton Bus operation is to create more local jobs and local CKD assembly is on the company’s longer term plan. Wang points our that there are a number of Foton diesel powered buses on New Zealand road but the new Australian operation will see Foton brand buses on our roads for the first time. Foton has a lot of experience in hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric buses having built three HFCE buses for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and has since built more than 600 HFCE buses for Chinese domestic use, with many having logged more than 100,000 km.
“Experience with zero emission is Foton’s major advantage as we enter this market,” said Wang. Foton established a joint venture in June this year with Japanese automotive giant, Toyota and three other automotive brands including Foton’s own Beijing Automotive Group, to establish United Fuel Cell System R&D (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (FCRD). Foton’s hydrogen buses use Toyota’s Mirai hydrogen fuel cells, which are generally acknowledged as the most advanced fuel cells currently being used in vehicles. As a result Foton says it can offer a five year full bus warranty including the fuel cell as standard. It will be interesting to see if the new Foton Bus organisation can gain traction in the burgeoning zero emission bus market in Australia and if Wang’s track record with Yutong is anything to go by it stands a better than even chance.
www.truckandbus.net.au 007
PERTH GOES ELECTRIC
WITH VOLVO
VOLVO and Western Australia’s Public Transport Authority have announced they are partnering to bring Volvo’s first ever electric buses to Australia. Four Volvo electric buses will be delivered to the PTA as part of the existing 900 Bus Supply Agreement between Volvo and Transperth which was signed in March 2019. The Agreement includes provisions for the introduction of alternative powered vehicles into the public transport bus network when the technology became available in Volvo’s Australian product line. “We are excited to partner with the PTA in Perth for our first electric buses in Australia,” said David Mead, vice president Volvo Buses Asia Pacific. “Our relationship with the PTA now spans over a decade and in years to come the city of Perth will indeed be aVolvo city with 100 per cent of the bus fleet being Volvo,” David Mead said. “Volvo’s contract with PTA included a technology roadmap that allowed PTA to access diesel, self-chargingelectric and battery-electric vehicles over time. PTA can access the variety of tools available to them and 008 www.truckandbus.net.au
match thetechnology to the route and need”. The buses will be operated for the PTA by Swan Transit in Joondalup, Perth’s primary urban centre in the northern suburbs. They will join the existing Central Area Transit System (CAT) in Joondalup, which are zero-fare routes,” he added. The Volvo says introducing alternate technologies is nothing new for the PTA and the company. The two organisations conducted a successful trial of hybrid buses when Volvo brought them to market in 2013, which they say not only allowed Volvo to prove the concept, but grow hybrid bus sales across Australia. “Trialling new, green technology is a great use of our public transport network, already one of the most environmentally friendly ways to get around Perth,” said Western Australian Transport Minister Rita Saffioti. “This is the first time we have trialled electric buses on a CAT route and I’m excited to see what commuters think about this new technology,” she said.
THE ALL-NEW FUSO ROSA. THE BEST JUST GOT BETTER.
With a longstanding history of being Australia’s favourite light-duty bus, the next generation of Fuso Rosa continues to raise the bar in safety, reliability and overall driving experience. With the only 5year/200,000km warranty and 15,000km service interval in its class, you really can’t go past a Fuso Rosa. TO SEE HOW THE ALL-NEW ROSA STACKS UP, VISIT FUSOROSA.COM.AU
• • • • •
Advanced Emergency Braking System Pedestrian Detection Lane Departure Warning Systems Electronic Stability Programme Dual Airbags
• • • • •
LED Headlights 22 or 25 seater configuration 129kw/430Nm Euro 6 engine 6-speed AMT or 5-speed Manual Flat Floor
GRID BUS NETWORK COULD PUT MELBOURNE
EN-ROUTE TO SHORTER COMMUTES
MODELLING BY RMIT researchers shows reconfiguring Melbourne’s bus routes to a grid network could save outer suburban commuters up to 15 minutes of travel time. The new grid network has fewer routes overall, but more interconnection and more focus on direct main road services. When compared to travel times and patterns under the current meandering bus network, it showed Melbournians commuting 2km or more could save up to eight minutes of travel time, with residents in the outer ring in Casey and Wyndham the biggest winners, saving up to 15 minutes. The results suggest we should follow the examples of cities like Houston and Barcelona who have adopted this new model. Study lead author, Steve Pemberton from the RMIT Centre for Urban Research, says the modelling illustrates that by diverting some resources from
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inner to outer areas, faster and more efficient transport options can be achieved for all Melburnians. “Our current bus network design is meandering and lacks efficiency as the routes detour through residential areas, perhaps providing people with bus stops near their homes, but at the cost of infrequent and slow services to limited destinations,” says Pemberton. “Using GIS spatial analysis, we modelled a new ‘anywhere-toanywhere’ bus network featuring 96 intersecting routes across the city in place of the existing network of hundreds of routes, with bus stops requiring walks of up to 800m rather than the current 400m requirement. “We found that a simpler pattern of a grid bus network using main roads with more direct routes would save Melbourne commuters travelling 2km or
more and average of nearly eight minutes and reduce the current inefficiencies across every local government area. “By changing the focus from providing coverage within a 400m walking distance to providing faster and more direct connections to a greater variety of destinations we can achieve better results – particularly for those in the outer suburbs who are most reliant on buses,” he says. The study published in Case Studies on Transport Policy this month, looked at cities including Houston, Barcelona and Dublin who have implemented these exact changes, converting a ‘tailor-made’ into an ‘anywhere-to-anywhere’ model to provide consistent routes for all passengers. As well as decreased travel times, Pemberton says a route restructure for the city would enhance the attractiveness of public transport by offering a
simpler transport map. As it remains to be seen how travel patterns will change in a post-COVID world, Pemberton says it is likely passenger demands may change. “There may be less need to travel to the CBD, and a higher demand to reach a range of destinations within reasonable travel time, in more than a single direction from our point of departure,” he says. “It would be worth considering a sparser network of more direct and frequent services as part of any reform, as this study shows that a ‘grid’ model would decrease travel time. “It would also increase accessibility to outer suburban areas and decrease congestion in our city.” ‘Optimising Melbourne’s bus routes for real-life travel patterns’ is published in Case Studies on Transport Policy.
VOLVO BUS ANNOUNCES RAFT OF KEY STAFF CHANGES AND APPOINTMENTS VOLVO BUS has announced some key staff changes and appointments which the company explains are aimed at allowing it to ‘focus and adapt to the changing nature of the Australian bus and coach industry’. Effective from 1st July, Tony Lowrey assumes the role of senior manager, major accounts, with a primary focus on New South Wales and Victoria, and responsible for the management of large operators, including both government and private. He previously had roles as regional service manager, regional sales manager and most recently on the major accounts team previously headed by Robyn Thomson. “Tony brings a wide experience to his new role having developed skills in the technical service area of our business before moving into sales and most recently major accounts. This broad experience coupled with deep industry understanding will allow Tony to provide an excellent level of support and service to our large
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customers”, said acting general manager of Volvo Bus Australia, David Mead. Christina Cortese will assume the role of senior manager, major accounts from the 1st September, with a primary focus on major accounts in Western Australia, South Australia, ACT and Queensland. Christina will also assume the market responsibility for New Zealand working alongside Volvo’s local distributor MTD. Her role will see her responsible for the management of large governmental and private operators. “Christina’s exposure to a wide range of markets, cultures and business models over the last three years will allow her to bring new perspectives to our Australian team. Her work in the area of product planning, especially related to Electromobility products, will be of enormous value in the city bus segment in Australia”, David Mead said. In other changes Svetlana
Guerin will take over the role of business control and finance having worked with both UD Trucks and the Volvo Real Estate Business Control teams since April 2019. Ali Alali becomes regional service manager for Metro NSW having relocated from Queensland, where he has spent the last two years as RSM for Queensland and the Northern Territory and Kevin Benat takes over the role of RSM for Queensland and the NT from the 1st August, bringing 14 years of mechanic experience in the heavy commercial vehicle trade and experience working in
international markets. Meanwhile David Woodward will take up his role as national competency manager full time, having been appointed on the 1st March. The early part of his tenure was unfortunately disrupted because of the Covid pandemic. His focus will be on NSW Face to Face training, as well as remote training using Volvo Buses new ‘Go To Training Portal’. While his original training calendar was disrupted due to Covid-19, He has instead focused his time on the continued support of Metro Sydney customers and will now broaden his scope to a national level.
FULL CHARGING POWER, 60% LESS SPACE GRID-EMOTION - CHARGING MORE WITH LESS
ACCELERATING THE FUTURE OF SMART ELECTRIC MOBILITY. POWERING GOOD FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY IN MOBILITY. We believe that smart cities need a backbone of smart electric transportation in public transport and commercial fleets. We are committed to contribute to this transformation and have thus introduced our Grid-eMotionTM fleet solution. This charging system is linking directly into the electrical grid and will occupy 60% less space in your depot. Eventually, we recognize you need space for vehicles, not for chargers. Learn more here: https://www.hitachiabb-powergrids.com/customers/mobility/
ELECTROMOTIV SECURES ITS LARGEST
ELECTRIC BUS LEASING DEAL
ZERO-EMISSION charging and refuelling provider Electromotiv has announced it has signed a nine-bus deal with New Zealand operator Go Bus, the largest leasing contract in the Australian so far for the company. The multi-million dollar contract includes Yutong E12 electric buses, all of which will be serviced and maintained by Electromotiv partner, JW Group as part of the agreement. Managing director and cofounder of Electromotiv, Toby Roxburgh, said the three-way partnership demonstrated that, as operators look at ways of transitioning to zero-emission fleets, leasing was becoming a convincing commercial option. “The big advantages of leasing are that it removes upfront costs, reduces risk and enables operators to pick and choose the best technology. Governments and operators are reviewing 014 www.truckandbus.net.au
their procurement solutions as they transition to zero-emission buses, and those advantages are becoming clear and compelling,” Roxburgh said. “Until now, operators have been struggling to procure highquality zero-emission vehicles. In part that’s because banks have been reluctant to lend for under seven-year terms. One reason we started our vehicle support division was to remove this lending barrier.” Roxburgh said his team had dedicated significant time and resources on the economics of vehicle leasing. Their aim has always been to provide operators with electric and hydrogen vehicles that were more than simply “price competitive”. “We’ve worked very hard to create rates that work out cheaper than the diesel alternative. Only by doing that can we enable projects like this to go
ahead,” Roxburgh said. “What this deal with Go Bus and JW Group shows is that transitioning to ZEBs [zeroemission buses] is now entirely doable. You no longer need to wait to make the transition.” Go Bus CEO, Calum Haslop, said he was excited to be leading Auckland’s move into zeroemission buses. “Having trialled two full battery electric buses over a 12-month period and completed thorough due diligence on a number of electric and hydrogen bus deployments worldwide, we are now ready to move to a zeroemission future,” Haslop said. “We are also rolling out electric buses in other cities in New Zealand and continue to work on hydrogen solutions as a complementary zero-emission option.” Roxburgh said New Zealand is well ahead of many much larger countries, including Australia,
when it comes to zero-emission buses. “New Zealand is leading the way on ZEBs. We’ve been discussing more New Zealand initiatives and talking to government and other providers, and will be announcing new projects very soon. “The leasing side of our business is growing quickly. We’ve shown leasing works overseas and in Australia, whether you’re looking for one bus, nine buses or 100 buses. We provide the same methodology, partnering experience and delivery for operators no matter the company or its requirements.” The nine buses for the new Airport Link will be used to improve transport connections and reliability between Manukau, Puhinui and Auckland Airport, including for workers accessing its employment precinct as well as the airport itself.
VOLGREN/MARCOPOLO LAUNCH FOG DISINFECTANT SYSTEM FOR BUSES AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT VOLGREN’S parent company, Marcopolo, has launched a range of global biosafety measures designed to limit the spread of coronavirus and improve the safety of passengers, drivers and the general public. Marcopolo BioSafe is a suite of products designed to make passenger travel safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. The products include FIP (fog in place) OnBoard, a dry fog that disinfects the inside of buses, trains or trams without using chemicals that are toxic to humans; protection kits for drivers; and UVC light technology to disinfect restrooms. Australian bus body manufacturer Volgren is investigating how the products could be used in an Australian context. CEO of Marcopolo, James Bellini, says the new concept promotes passenger biosafety
while respecting the guidelines of health and government agencies. “We live in a unique time where innovation and technology are coupled to safely resume mobility. With Marcopolo BioSafe, our objective is to put ourselves as partners of our customers both in Brazil and abroad, giving them the conditions to continue operating and regain their confidence in using public transportation,” he explains. Bellini says he’s eager to show the technology in action to as many operators as possible, as quickly as possible. “We need to act with urgency and proactivity to spread and foster the application of these important solutions. Public transportation is fundamental to ensure people’s mobility and cannot be seen as a bottleneck or a limitation.”
CEO of Volgren, Thiago Deiro, says that embedding biosafety measures into public transport is an important step towards restoring passenger confidence and will preserve the safety of the traveling public. “COVID-19 has created challenges for many sectors. Public transport and student transport have been especially impacted. We believe that the measures developed under Marcopolo BioSafe could play an important role in helping Australia’s bus industry recover economically by making commuters and school children comfortable returning to bus travel. Deiro says that the FIP OnBoard dry fog is a fast and reliable system that sanitises through nanoparticles, creating a nanofilm on 100 per cent of surfaces. It only takes 15 minutes on average to cover
and sanitise an entire passenger area for up to 72 hours. The application doesn’t wet or dampen seats, or harm the buses electrical systems. “Marcopolo’s fog in place system is also fascinating because it can be used not only in buses, but in many broad applications ranging from school classrooms, cafes and restaurants to public libraries. Being a father of two, I’d pretty much like to see school buses and even classrooms disinfected every day.” “It’s a credit to Marcopolo that they’ve come up with such an innovative solution in such a relatively short period of time.” Deiro says Volgren has been working with Marcopolo to roll out the BioSafe measures in its coach and route vehicles and is in discussions with customers and government operators to gauge interest.
www.truckandbus.net.au 015
New Product
LIGHT FANTASTIC After more than ten years Fuso has delivered the first major overhaul for its popular and highly capable Rosa light duty bus, a move that should heat up the battle with Toyota’s Coaster as well as light bus offerings from Chinese makers Higer and Yutong in the sector.
I
n a growing and increasingly important
Rosa, claiming it now features the most
advanced safety features ever in the light
and begin braking for moving pedestrians, other vehicles and obstacles.
recent times, one would imagine, given a
Departure Warning System as standard, along with Electronic Stability Program, driver and front passenger airbags, height
getting a serious update in 2010, with a new engine being introduced. So the latest
operators look to buy new light buses. The safety suite in the new Rosa reflects the same safety strategy Fuso has
Rosa’s chief rival in the light bus sector is of course Toyota’s Coaster, which after many years of having the sector to itself,
engine and a swag of other features,
comprehensive range of safety features anchored by Advanced Emergency Braking, which can perform full emergency
part of the bus market, the light duty
sector has been a success story for Rosa, and Fuso has captured plenty of loyal customers over the time it’s been sold here. It’s difficult to get a handle on Rosa’s
carbon dating, but its seems the Rosa as we know it arrived here in 1997, before
overhaul could be seen by some as being due at the very least and overdue by most. As well as updated styling, a new Daimler has thrown its cupboard full of electronic safety features at the new gen
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duty bus class. Given the fact that safety has become a battleground in the light truck market in more precious cargo of up to 25 passengers, it might come into sharper focus, as
adopted with its truck range, offering a
braking in the event of a potential collision. This radar-based system can detect,
Along with that, Rosa also gets a Lane
adjustable LED headlights, Hill Start Assist and a reversing camera.
then had to play second fiddle to the more
stylish and practical Rosa in terms of sales when it arrived on the market. Coaster has fought back somewhat over the past two years, since Toyota introduced a new model in 2018.
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Finding exact sales numbers for the light bus sector is like trying to track down next week’s winning lotto
numbers. Toyota’s numbers are listed on the Federal Chamber of Auto Industry’s VFACTS data and in 2019
it showed that there were 282 Coasters sold in Australia. However Rosa sales numbers aren’t listed in the VFACTS numbers, nor does it make the Truck Industry Council’s commercial vehicle sales results.
Daimler wouldn’t comment on sales numbers for Rosa, keeping their cards very close to the chest, but we understand that Toyota may have just edged the Rosa in 2019, and could be sitting ahead this year as well,
with year to date figures showing Coaster having sold 232 to the end of August 2020. The arrival of the new Coaster in 2018 clearly sparked
interest in the model and the new Rosa is Fuso’s counter punch in a battle for the sector, which by conservative
estimates accounts for around 600 to 700 sales a year for new sales, or around $60 million to $70 million a year in Australia. It’s clear Fuso believes the safety suite is a major plus
up against the Coaster which does not have the same level of safety equipment, save for a couple of safety airbags. On a punch for punch basis, the Rosa also outpoints
Coaster on power, seating capacity and its transmission. New for Rosa is its three-litre four-cylinder turbo diesel common rail engine which has more power and torque than the Coaster’s four-litre engine. The Rosa now boasts 129kW of power against the Coaster’s 110 kW, while the Rosa’s 430Nm is higher than its opponent’s 397Nm. Fuso says the new powerplant is an advanced unit, that is smaller and lighter than the engine it replaces
meets Euro 6 emission standards, and features a variable geometry turbocharger among other goodies. The 3.0-litre 4P10 meets the Euro6 standards by using Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) as well as a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) along with Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR). The new Rosa also gets Daimler’s Duonic six-speed dual clutch, automated manual which is claimed to deliver fuel efficiency improvements as well as faster and smoother shifts. Another feature is a creep function, which makes low-speed manoeuvring a whole lot easier. If you don’t want the AMT you can also choose to self-shift with a five-speed manual. From the outside the Rosa has been given a major styling facelift that is the first real overhaul of its looks, apart from a few minor cosmetic changes, since 1997.
The revised Rosa now has a more contemporary Daimler
family front end treatment, along with LED headlights. None of this takes away from the quite well proportioned overall look it has always had. We know it’s a bus, so
styling is a bit of a moot point, right,? Well sort of, but we
know more than one operator who has purchased the Rosa over the Coaster because of its sleeker styling, proving that looks may well matter in the light duty bus market.
Just as some of Fuso’s trucks these days have a second ‘transom’ window in the lower part of the front passenger door, the new Rosa has received one of these
as well, the theory being that the driver gets a better view of pedestrians and potential obstacles on the left hand side of the bus.
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Fuso has also significantly upgraded
the interior of the Rosa, with a new-
look dashboard that looks to be both practical and stylish. It now incorporates a passenger side airbag, as well as a new
climate control display and new switches for key controls that are within easy reach of the driver. Significantly there is a new high-
resolution 7-inch touchscreen display with internet and digital radio, along
with a new electronic instrument cluster that presents a range of bus data for the driver including fuel efficiency information, maintenance status, current date and outside temperature. The handbrake lever has also been
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repositioned, and now sits to the left of
the driver’s seat. Fuso has also taken the
opportunity to move the transmission shift lever from the floor on to the dashboard for easier control.
For passengers, bright LED lamps have been introduced into the cabin of the Rosa, while the rear air-conditioning system has been retained with integrated roof vents. The Deluxe versions of the Rosa also feature new high-backed cloth seats.
Fuso engineers and designers have given the Rosa a new flat floor design, that not only makes it easier for passengers to get in and out of their seats, but also
allows for simpler aftermarket wheelchair lift installations.
The new Rosa continues to feature independent front suspension for optimum comfort and handling as well as rack and pinion steering for more precise feel. One of the results of that is the Rosa’s claimed class leading turning circle of
12.6 metres for the 22 seater and 14.2m for the 25 seater. Significantly for safety and better
performance, we think, the Rosa now also features disc brakes on all four corners as well as rear suspension stabilisers. Four wheel discs are a big step up for
consistency of braking performance and reliable stopping power.
Fuso is offering Rosa in two trim levels, as mentioned earlier, either Standard or
“ THESE BUSES CARRY OUR MOST PRECIOUS CARGO, WHETHER IT BE ON SCHOOL RUNS OR NURSING HOME DAY TRIPS, SO IT IS IMPERATIVE FLEET OPERATORS CONSIDER THEIR SAFETY FEATURES”
Deluxe, allowing operators the ability to choose the level that is right for them.
the strategy to give the Rosa the weaponry
Standard Rosas are equipped with manual air-conditioning and heater, low back passenger seats trimmed in vinyl,
to fight off the rival Toyota Coaster. “These buses carry our most precious cargo, whether it be on school runs or nursing home day trips, so it is imperative
The Deluxe models are equipped with full auto air conditioning, high back cloth trim
features or lack thereof,” Whitehead said. “There is only one light duty bus in Australia with Advanced Emergency
swing entrance door, LED fog lamps, cornering lamps and Alcoa alloy wheels.
Stability, and that is the new Fuso Rosa,” Whitehead proudly boasted.
equipped with two-point seat belts and an auto foldable entrance door.
passenger seats with three-point belts, front window black-out, an automatic
Daimler Truck and Bus Australia boss,
Daniel Whitehead, told C&B that the safety
features of the new Rosa are at the heart of its appeal, with the company clearly taking
fleet operators consider their safety
Whitehead added.
With a five year/200,000km warranty,
and extended 15,000km service intervals the updated Rosa has certainly been given an even more compelling purchase rationale.
Fuso has managed to further improve uptime and help reduce running costs by increasing Rosa’s service intervals
Braking, only one with Lane Departure Warning and only one with Electronic
to 15,000km. Does the new Rosa have the goods to re-assert its ascendency in the light bus
“There are many other benefits introduced by the upgraded model, but
plenty of resources at making sure that it will. We look forward to driving the new
nothing as important as the features that will help protect the ones we love,”
market? We reckon it just might and from what we can see Daimler is throwing
Rosa in the very near future for a full road test here in Coach & Bus.
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Coverstory
e-MOTIONAL RESCUE The drive to electrify transport networks is growing at a pace that few could have envisaged even five years ago. Transport companies are voting with their budgets and chequebooks, and while governments in Australia have been slow to move, that is quickly changing. Already, NSW has committed to turning its entire public transport fleet of close to 8000 buses electric by 2050, and the increasing realisation that the climate is changing will only accelerate the moves. 022 www.truckandbus.net.au
D
eciding to switch to electric buses is one thing, but
getting enough electricity to charge large fleets of vehicles
is another and a factor that has been exercising the minds of many power experts and will be one of the major challenges to mass electrification.
Not surprisingly the groundswell movement to zero emission is spawning research and development by a range of companies across the full sphere of
electric vehicle technology, from batteries to alternative power generation and
them announce the new system designed to facilitate better ways to replenish the
Enter Hitachi ABB and its Grid eMotion charging technology which promises a better and more efficient way of recharging
Hitachi describes as a “full ‘grid-to-plug’ solution for large-scale public transport and commercial fleets”, will enable
most importantly grid management and charging infrastructure.
buses both in the depots and at locations
along a bus route. The partnership between two of the world’s leading electronic and engineering companies in Hitachi and ABB has seen
batteries of electric buses. The launch of Grid-eMotion Fleet, which
operators to charge more with less.
The newly formed joint venture is pioneering a broader range of clean solutions for the global mobility market. The company launched Grid-eMotion
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Fleet on line due to the Covid 19 crisis, and claims the system is a game-
in both the Swiss city of Geneva and the French city of Nantes.
future of smart mobility. Niklas Persson, managing director of
that ‘delivers a step-change approach for public transport and commercial operators’.
online launch that it is already engaged in a pilot scheme with the Brisbane City Council to enable the electrification of the
business unit said the company is leveraging its world-class power systems capabilities together with Hitachi’s
up their operations and is expected to contribute to sustainable society for
closely with transport operators to identify a market need for a more holistic approach
changing grid-to-plug EV charging system
The smart mobility solution is said to enable operators to ‘efficiently scale
millions living in urban areas’. Hitachi ABB Power Grids says it has
been a global technology leader which has been pioneering EV charging solutions since 2013, when it first introduced innovative flash-charging eBus solutions
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The company’s Bruce Warner told the
Queensland capital’s bus fleet. The company says it has collaborated
to large-scale charging. The company says the launch of GrideMotion Fleet marks a game-changing shift from a charger-product based approach to a charging-system based
approach, which helps to accelerate the
Hitachi ABB Power Grids Grid Integration
advanced digital technologies and proven track record of innovation in smart cities and sustainable mobility. “The Grid-eMotion Fleet launch is a
game-changer for anyone managing public transport and commercial EV fleets,” said Niklas Persson. “Grid-eMotion Fleet delivers unprecedented scalability, space savings and operational efficiency. The solution
Hitachi ABB MD Niklas Persson
Hitachi ABB’s Bruce Warner
will accelerate the global uptake of safe, sustainable and smart mobility,
to the AC grid, the solution brings a 60 per cent reduction in space required for large-
Digital analysis monitors the battery life data, route data, traffic simulation
an enhanced quality of life for today’s generation and those to come,” he added. During the online launch the company
cabling is reduced by 40 per cent. The company says the fast-to-install solution harnesses renewable energy
power use, energy storage and overnight charging is optimised. The company says that 80 per cent of
whilst contributing to cleaner air and
explained that the Grid-eMotion Fleet solution comes in standard containers that integrate the grid connection and charging systems all together. The system uses DC technology and can connect to any type of power network, which the company claims it removes the complexities of integrating AC-DC chargers into a system.
Compared to a conventional connection
scale EV fleet charging, whilst the depot
through grid integration, smart mobility, digital energy management system and
incorporates insights from data analytics. Grid-eMotion Fleet leverages Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ smart energy management solution, e-mesh EMS to
manage and enhances the complete charging infrastructure, calculate bus energy consumption and devise, plan and deliver effective services for passengers.
and depot control to ensure that efficient
municipal bus fleets globally are forecast to be electric by 2040.
It added that more than 400,000 eBuses are already in service around the world today, and that the number is expected to grow to 2.3 million eBuses by 2040.
As a result, operators now need solutions that go beyond the charger to help them connect seamlessly to the grid to power their expanding EV fleets.
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Hitachi ABB Power Grids says it supports the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the launch of Grid-eMotion
Fleet will contribute to furthering progress in respect of SDGs 7 and 11.
Hitachi ABB Power Grids says as a global technology leader it has a combined heritage of almost 250 years, and employs around 36,000 people in 90 countries. The company’s headquarters is in Switzerland, with the business serving
utility, industry and infrastructure customers across the value chain, and emerging areas like sustainable mobility, smart cities, energy storage and data centres.
company’s corporate belt.
quickly replenish buses before they
that point of view, but nothing which we
charge system which is the Grid-eMotion
“The project is quite big. I mean, 60 double articulated buses is bigger than usual. It’s quite an ambitious project from can’t do technically or which presents any challenges that we couldn’t overcome, but I think just the size of it is a slightly different dimension to what other people
have undertaken elsewhere,” Warner said. The big benefit of the Grid e-Motion system is being able to charge a large bus fleet efficiently and that is something that really fits with the Brisbane project.
head back on the return trip,” he said. “Then back at the depot, when you’ve got more time, there’s a longer 50 kilowatt fleet,” he added. The Brisbane Metro is the only project Hitachi is involved in in Australia so far but the expectation is that its services
will be in demand particularly in Sydney
where the NSW government has launched a request for proposals for pilot plans to electrify the entire bus fleet. The Queensland capital can be quite
For Australians significantly, Hitachi has a current contract with Swiss bus
“Grid e-Motion is an ideal fit for the Brisbane Metro project, because we can really make the system compact so that
a hot place in summer, something that is a challenge for batteries and electric vehicle systems. However Hitachi has
for the delivery of the Brisbane Metro project, delivering 60 buses to Brisbane
so it saves space at the depots,” he said. “Then also when we get to that phase of installing it should make the execution
to ensure that every component is rated for and will exceed performance expectations.
Hitachis’s solution is the new GrideMotion fleet solution.
one central depot with buses operating on two distinct lines, one north and one south
maker Hess and local buys body builder Volgren, and it has teamed up with them
City Council with Hitachi is delivering the charging system.
Bruce Warner says that at the moment Hitachi ABB is doing the engineering for the project, which will be finished later this year. In early 2021 there’ll be a bus and a charger delivered for a pilot test program in Brisbane, and then in 2022 the delivery of the full fleet and the
charging infrastructure will occur. According to Bruce Warner the project is really quite big and is a major notch on the
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everything is in a shipping container,
a lot smoother and easier,” he added. The Brisbane Metro will operate from just
of the Brisbane CBD, with charging both at the depot and at the end of each of the two lines. “So Grid-eMotion is really the umbrella name we have for our innovative recharging options we are offering now,” said Warner. “At the end of the two lines there will be flash charging technology with a much higher power transfer at 600 kilowatts, to
taken that into account and is working
“Well, we’ve had to make sure that everything is rated properly to withstand those temperatures, and also that the equipment in the containers is properly
cooled with a proper airflow and dimensioning to make sure that it can withstand the temperatures in Brisbane,” said Bruce. The arrival of systems like Grid e-Motion and the increasing will of governments to move to zero emission transport will drive the electrification of our buses, in what is an increasingly exciting time in the passenger transport industry.
Interview
CONSTANCE CHANGE When NSW Minister for Transport addressed a major business forum in late 2019 and told the gathering that all 8000 government owned and funded buses in Sydney would be changed from diesel to battery electric power over the course of the next two decades, it was a massive endorsement for zero emission vehicle technology and will be seen as a game changer for electric buses. We sat down with Minister Constance in his office to find out more about the road to electric buses in Australia’s most populous state.
T
he tragic bushfire crisis over
the 2019 Christmas period catapulted NSW Minister for Transport and Roads, Andrew
Constance into the national limelight.
Poli-speak, the answer avoiding
obfuscation that politicians have become known for all over the world disappeared and Andrew Constance showed he was
a real person, not just a politician.
Constance, also the local member for the South Coast seat of Bega in the NSW Parliament, saw his neighbours houses
When Coach and Bus sat down with Andrew Constance in his Sydney
Batemans Bay. Constance wore his heart on his sleeve during the crisis when he appeared on TV
apologising profusely for what he
burn to the ground and successfully fought tooth and nail to save his own home near
ministerial office recently, he had just rushed back from another briefing with a prominent media personality,
in his role as local home owner, and won
perceived was lateness. In actual fact he was very close to schedule and certainly nothing we would worry about, given the
over the nation with his plain speaking and clearly sincere outpourings, at a time when as a country we were collectively feeling the pain.
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gruelling schedule Ministers of the State have to keep.
He oversees one of the key ‘Super’ Ministries in the Berijiklean Government,
controlling public transport, roads and maritime, but from C&Bs standpoint our focus for this interview was clearly on
buses, and in particular the proclamation in October 2019, that Sydney’s 8000 bus public transport fleet, would be transitioned to zero emission as part of
the state’s goal to be a zero net emitter by 2050. For Minister Constance, his speech
before the Committee for Economic Development in Australia (CEDA) last year revealed the bold plan to swap diesel power for zero emission - electric and eventually hydrogen fuel cell buses.
Since that announcement the industry
has been working overtime planning for a zero emission future.
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As you may have read in these pages before, Transit Systems, which currently holds the franchise from Transport for NSW to operate Region 6 buses in Sydney’s inner west and south, has already started making moves, even before the Minister’s announcement, to
a perception about the conservative side of politics, but it is clearly not the view of Andrew Constance. He has held that view since even before his traumatic encounter with the bushfires and the climate change links that most acknowledge led to that summer crisis.
like Sydney, time had come to actually properly analyse the effect of diesel particulates out of our bus fleet,” said the Minister. “There is no doubt if you look at the research showing its impact on children, in particular newborns, the degree
told us that the company is planning on having hydrogen fuel cell buses on Sydney
before the height of the bushfire crisis, and months before that he was putting
transport routes, that there’s an obvious health challenge that’s been identified internationally, and in many ways I felt
trial and test battery electric buses. Transit’s Transition Director, Greg Balkin
roads by as early 2021. Transit has since announced it has formed a consortium comprising a bus builder, a hydrogen fuel cell maker and other companies
that will provide charging and other key infrastructure hardware and software to develop HFC EVs for use in Australia. So
whichever way you cut it the future of zero emission is starting to rush toward us at an increasing pace. For some, Constance’s stance on zero
emission buses may have seemed at odds with the position of the party he belongs to. The long held perception is that most conservatives hold a degree of scepticism about the benefits of moving away from internal combustion engines. That may be
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The Minister made his announcement about zero emission buses two month
policies in place to clear the way for zero emission buses. So in short Andrew Constance’s position on electric buses
is not a knee jerk reaction to the bushfire
crisis but rather a long held belief and well cemented position.
Asked what led to the Government making
of impact, particularly along heavy
Australia had turned a blind eye to that,” he added.
Constance believes that when it comes to transport, there has not been enough done on air quality monitoring, and says that we have to get to a point where
the commitment to move on zero emission and the Minister is quick to answer.
everyone comes on the journey to cleaner transport, be it the manufacturers, be it the operators or be it new entrants into
says with conviction. “It’s obvious to me, that with the circumstances in Europe and the analysis
get benefits from many aspects of the move, not just the most obvious one, with the environmental advantages.
“Health, people’s health,” Constance
they’ve done through their air quality monitoring, and the respective research
on community health impacts associated with diesel particulates, that with a basin
transport. He also thinks that we will we
“It’s a no-brainer really, and I’ve got to say, the community response since I made
the announcements around, has been very positive and the industry, to its credit has
been the same,” says Constance. He reiterates that his goal is to bring everyone along on the zero emission journey, instead of just coming in and being prescriptive. “Instead of saying, right, well, here’s an arbitrary line, you’ve got to meet this
best way to achieve that, what’s feasible, the cost structures associated with that, it’s all important,” he says. “I think the big lesson out of this whole COVID pandemic is that globalisation has led to an incredible opportunity in terms of jobs, and that you can’t put all your
got to weigh that up,” the Minister says. “I think the community’s going to increasingly look for this, particularly in a country like Australia where we had so much sovereignty in this space once upon a time. I mean, look at our agricultural and mining exports, they’re key to our success.
together and not necessarily be as black and white,” he adds.
point to PPE equipment out of China as a classic example of that,” he says.
an opportunity for us to use Australian innovation to explore what opportunities
deadline and this target date, I want to set it up in a way where we take everybody
“I think there’ll be a degree of organic growth in the sector, but we need to facilitate it and help our manufacturers realign their operations, and assist in
terms of the challenges around depots and charge points,” he said. The Minister believes the global
pandemic and the move to zero emission could present some opportunities that we should not ignore, particularly with the potential for increasing local manufacturing opportunities.
“Look, I think the temptation could be for importation of more buses, but particularly given the global pandemic, we’ve got to help our local manufacturers with their
operations. So learning how to do that, the
eggs in one country’s basket, which has happened in a number of areas, and I
“I think globalisation will shift as a result of the pandemic and I think governments around the world will increasingly look to incentivise or localise manufacturing, and
that’s a good thing. “We will explore localised manufacturing opportunities in the future, and it wouldn’t matter if it’s trains or buses or other
transport modes, and I think that that’ll be a big public policy discussion over the next six to 12 months,” he added. “I guess the point I’d make, is if
you have too much reliance on one country to do the manufacturing and then you have an outbreak like we’ve had, that can lead to significant procurement challenges, then we’ve
“You’ve got to weigh up all the trade agreements, but I do think that there is
“ THE COMMUNITY RESPONSE SINCE I MADE THE ANNOUNCEMENTS, HAS BEEN VERY POSITIVE AND THE INDUSTRY, TO ITS CREDIT HAS BEEN THE SAME” we’ve got in this space, because If we can
manufacture 15 per cent of the US Navy fleet out of Perth, then I believe pretty confidently, that we might procure some electric buses into the future in New South Wales.
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Constance says that there’s a degree of understanding which Transport for NSW is working through in regard to the switch to electric buses.
“We have gone to the market and said, well tell us what you think is feasible in the
initial strategy around this, we’ve got 8,000 buses that are going to be converting,” he says. “In the last 12 months there has been
some battery electric buses which have been put into trials in Region 6, the Inner West region, by Transit Systems, and they’re finding that the serviceability of those buses has been pretty solid.”
Constance says that electric buses make economic sense as well, because as he points out, the whole of life costing for electric buses versus diesel will become even more viable as the scale increases. He also adds that it is not just in the bus
business where zero emission is moving, but points out that some leadership is also being
technology is still very capital intensive,
but that hydrogen use is going to be a form of energy innovation, which he thinks will come in time. “It’s about scale and in many ways the reason that battery electric buses have an appeal is that it’s not dependent
on other areas of the economy being in innovative change, whereas hydrogen is,” says Constance. “Electric does give us a little bit more
autonomy in that sense, in terms of its pathway, but that may very well change,” he adds.
The minister also is keen to underline that the zero emission planning is not the only innovation that is coming about under his stewardship of Transport for NSW, pointing to the half a billion dollars the government has invested in the B-Line express service on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
“That investment is not just about the double-decker buses on the B-Line, it’s
The Minister also mentions that it is important to be agnostic when it comes to technology, and to keep an open mind to new developments and potential “I think if you look at the per kilometre cost of running a diesel bus versus an electric bus, it will start to stack up quite well over the next 10 years and I guess the other thing is, I’m mindful not to lock us into one form of technology and innovation,” Constance adds.
“That’s the other challenge, I don’t want to say to industry, right, we’ve definitely got to go down the battery electric path, when there could be other options which come to the fore,” he says. Constance says that the intention is to use the money generated by selling the
Sydney bus region franchises to invest in new technologies, and adds that battery technology will likely benefit greatly from the rivalry between China and Europe in that space at the moment.
“So we could very well be the beneficiaries of that competitive tension around batteries and I do think the name of the game is batteries for zero emission in the short term”.
While not dismissing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, Andrew Constance says the
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walking distance of your house or work and that takes you to a transport hub or a
shopping centre at a time that suits you,” he says. “That’s the type of model, which will increasingly populate the whole ‘mobility
as a service’ space, where people are going to subscribe to highly personalised transport services, and that’s where that type of innovation becomes really
important. So as long as the smartphone apps are easy to use, people will take it
up,” says the Minister. The Minister adds that it is data that underpins the technology and a lot of that comes from the rollout and success of
the government’s Opal Card tap and go transport payment system and the data that delivers.
the integrated car parks and a complete change in terms of the bus services,” he says. “It’s an incredible service and definitely a success story in terms of public transport, it’s an example of what people are looking for, quicker trips to town with express services and a different style of
“Anything that’s obtained through the backend solutions of the app providers along with the Opal Card data helps us to figure out when and where people are wanting transport and how we should implement it, and I think it’s really exciting. We’ve been leading the way and pushed the boundaries, which is good, the more of it the better,” he says. “I think increasingly it’ll be smarter for the operators to be running smaller buses around suburban streets which are more flexible and agile than contracted bus routes”. The Minister says that it is hard to predict what the trends will be coming out of the
started the Bondi Link service based
as a result of the crisis and more people
“ IT’S AN INCREDIBLE SERVICE AND DEFINITELY A SUCCESS STORY IN TERMS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT, IT’S AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR” shown in the trucking space particularly with companies like Woolworths.
“What we’ve deployed so far, and it’s had some success in parts of Sydney, is on demand services where, in essence you order a bus to pick you up within easy
the express service, it’s the nature of the bus stops, the technology innovations,
product offering, and it’s a model which we will roll out increasingly across Sydney. Since then Transport for NSW has on that B-Line model, but without the trademark yellow Double Deckers, using instead regular blue and white single deck Sydney buses.
“It’s clear people are looking for a service
which is higher frequency, turn up and go, run over longer hours across the day and of course catering to everyone’s changing work habits, which means that
the transport system will need to adapt as well, but look it’s been a success story and it’s a great model,” says Constance.
The next big area of innovation according
to the Minister will be on demand services, because he believes that we can no longer have full size buses running around narrow suburban streets in the middle of the day when they’re typically empty.
pandemic, particularly with people’s work habits, pointing to the fact that public transport usage is down about 55 per cent are working from home. “You can never predict things out of a pandemic, but things will change, workplaces will change, which means that our mobility will change and that
to me, is the opportunity to grow our on demand services, because people won’t necessarily travel across the length and breadth of cities as much any more and
they’ll look for more localised transport options, and that’s where the on demand services can be quite successful.
It’s clear that Andrew Constance is firmly at the wheel of NSW Transport and he has steered it on to the motorway of the future, a journey that will see the way
we travel on buses change forever and for the better.
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Operator After almost a quarter of a century as a country baker Eddie Ogden made an interesting and very different business decision in 1980 when he decided to buy a school bus run. Forty years later it is a decision that Eddie Ogden has never regretted. We take a look at Ogden’s and its inspirational founder and patriarch.
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Some of Ogden’s fleet of Hinos
I
t was somewhere up the country in a land of bush and scrub that they
formed an institution called the Geebung Polo Club’. So goes the opening stanza of Banjo Patterson’s great bush poem about the ‘tough as teak’ bushies who take on the city slickers in a rugged and fiercely fought polo match.
Wandering around the rugged hills and
valleys of the NSW Central Western slopes around Mudgee, Wellington and Dubbo, visions of the Geebungs come to mind.
Running school buses out here means they have to be tough and those operating them
need to be tough and pretty resilient as well.
Which brings us to Eddie Ogden, an 83 year old former baker who for the last 40
years has been in the bus business, building an operation from a single vehicle to a major fleet that dominates the local school bus market. It might not be a rough and tumble
polo match but Eddie and his employees have weathered the test of time and mastered the bus business over four decades. While he stayed in the baking business for a few years after buying into the bus industry, over time it became the main focus for Ogden’s, getting out of baking to make dough in a very different way. Founder of Ogdens and patriarch of the Ogden family, Eddie Ogden
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“Baking is a good business, but it is a
tough game, with very difficult and long
hours and getting into buses was a good
diversion, it allowed us to get out and smell the flowers, instead of smelling the flour,” said Eddie with a laugh. In all Eddie had four decades in baking in the NSW Central Western town of Wellington, which was very much a family business, following his father and brothers into the
breadmaking game. But despite getting out
of baking in the 1990s, he carried a number of lessons across to the bus business. “Well most importantly just like baking, or any business, you’ve got to look after
your customers, that is the most important thing to remember,” said Eddie When Eddie bought his first bus run in Wellington in 1980 it was on the advice
of a friend who had a school bus run and said that it was a good solid business.
“I was looking for a diversion from baking and so I bought a bus run complete with an old Albion bus and that was the start of a whole new career in the bus industry.
“ WELL MOST IMPORTANTLY JUST LIKE BAKING, OR ANY BUSINESS, YOU’VE GOT TO LOOK AFTER YOUR CUSTOMERS, THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER”
Today, four decades on Ogden’s has a fleet of 94 buses with 25 Hinos along with
really work very well in general,” he added It is that pragmatism, devotion to the job
have done deals with operators to take over the runs and because money may
11 Iveco front engine school buses ( which have been the subject of a past story in C&B) and a brace of smaller Fuso Rosas
Ogden build and operation from a single old Albion to almost 100 buses operating extensively across the Central West with
back over time, they just wanted us to make sure their routes were run properly and the standard was maintained, and we
some Iveco Delta conventional buses and
and Toyota HiAces. “We really like the Hinos, they are a very good bus, well priced and well suited to our operations here in the country,” said Eddie Ogden. “They are a good medium bus that fits
well in category 3 bus with 43 seats but they aren’t too heavy and some other buses are a bit heavy and too expensive to fit the category, but the Hinos are just right,” said Eddie. “Our mechanics love them because they are easy to fix and parts are readily available off the shelf from local dealers
out here in the Central West,” he said. “Our drivers also like the Hinos because they are no fuss and no bother and they
and the customers that has seen Eddie
depots in Wellington, Dubbo and Mudgee. “We have a reputation for looking after
the customers and treating the kids well on our school bus runs and in fact over the years many times I have been approached by other operators to buy their runs when they were looking to retire,” said Eddie. ‘They approached me because they wanted operators who would take care of the kids on their run and look after them, so they came to us.” “I reckon we have been approached by 38 operators over the years and we haven’t let them down, we very much
make sure our passengers are looked after and kept safe,” he said. “In fact there have been times when we
have been tight, we did a deal to pay them
have never let them down,” he added. ‘It is the same as the bread business,
you only get out of the business what you put in,” Eddie says.
Ogden’s has a number of contracts with the NSW government for school bus runs, which include around 90 routes in and around Wellington, Dubbo, Condobolin,
Narromine, Mudgee, Gilgandra, Gulargambone and Trangie, transporting around 2000 students to schools each day. The Central West area of NSW around
Mudgee, Dubbo and Wellington is surprisingly hilly and the Ogden’s school
buses have to climb a lot, traversing the countryside up and down valleys to bring students into the schools.
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The Ogden Family management team, Mandi, Faye, Eddie and Peter
“There is constant climbing on the power constantly on a lot of the routes and then when they aren’t climbing they are often descending and using the retarder, it is
Ogden’s there is a daily need to traverse the gravel roads to ferry children to schools in the major centres. While primarily specialising in school bus
bus to start a bus service. In 2000 Ogden’s bought Mudgee Bus Service and Eddie and Faye moved to Mudgee to run that operation. Always a
is operated twice a day in the morning and afternoon picking up students and
between Dubbo and Naromine and also Wellington and Dubbo.
administration, son Peter runs the Dubbo depot and while their other son, Tony has
quite tough country.” The toughest run is the Saxa Run which covers 110km out and back and this
bringing them in to school and returning them home in the afternoon.
Head out into rural areas and you don’t have to move too far away to encounter gravel roads snaking away from the tarmac, servicing farms and bucolic hamlets and villages. In fact of the close to one million
kilometres of gazetted roads in Australia, close to two thirds or more than 600,000km are unsealed roads, so it is often tough going for country school buses. This alone make it a tough life for
country school buses. While it is easy for city slickers to avoid dirt roads and stay on the black top country people don’t always have the
choice and for transport operators such as
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runs around the Central West Ogden’s also operates a number of normal bus routes around Wellington and Dubbo and also
Along with those Ogden’s also operates
two TrainLink contracts for the NSW
government from Lithgow to Coonabarabran and Baradine. Eddie says that is a very demanding run, operating services 365 days a year with two coaches on the job.
All up Ogden’s employs around 154 people these days, which is a long way from the humble start for the company back in 1980. “They are the best people I’ve ever worked with,” said Eddie.
Back in 1980 Eddie and his wife Faye were running Kimbols Kitchen bakery in Wellington running out great bread, pies and cakes before Eddie saw the
opportunity in the bus business and in particular school runs and bought a single
family oriented business, Eddie and Faye’s three children all joined the business. These days daughter Mandi runs the company’s
worked in the operation he is currently taking a break, but Eddie says he will be back
working with Ogden’s again in the future. At 83 Eddie Ogden is still working every day in the business running the Mudgee operation and is still heavily involved in Bus NSW as chair of the Orana branch after 30 odd years on the Association’s executive.
“I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else, it’s a great business and I am three years into my new 30 year plan and that is going well, “ said the optimistic octogenarian, and listening to his
enthusiasm and positive views it wouldn’t
be a surprise to see Eddie still at Ogden’s in 2047 at the age of 110. They clearly breed’em tough in the bush!
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Product
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WA based bus and coach builder, Able has made a name for itself making specialised buses capable of taking on all sorts of people moving tasks from rough outback roads to tough mining camps and doing it with buses and coaches built on truck chassis. We take a look at Able and some of the buses it has built for a variety of roles.
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B
asing buses and coaches on truck chassis is not a new idea and in fact dates back to the early part of the 20th century, when the first motor
‘omnibuses’ were built on the first truck chassis the fledgling automotive industry had developed.
Over time of course specialised bus chassis came about and less and less buses were built on truck platforms and more and more were based on chassis designed to be buses from the start. However ,the concept has continued on, particularly with buses operating in
more difficult terrain or with special passenger requirements, and for one bus and coach builder based in WA, truck based people carriers are very much alive and thriving in a range of applications and operating environments. Able Bus and Coach was born out of founder, Kevin DeBruin’s involvement in
sport for people with disability. Key to participation in the many activities in life that are often taken for granted, is access, and Kevin realised that many of his friends and colleagues in the field were missing out on vital life experiences, just because they couldn’t get there.
In this spirit, Kevin established his first business in 1995—an adventure tour bus company for people with disabilities, using a 4WD bus. The vehicle only lasted two years due to mechanical shortcomings and so DeBruin moved on to an Isuzu FSS 500 4x4 cab and built his own durable bus body to transport his passengers.
“In the beginning, the biggest challenge we had with adventure tour transport was having a strong, safe, reliable product that could handle the environment it was in,” Kevin explained,
“A lot of the adventure tour buses back in those days were overloaded, let alone before they went out on the road or into the bush. “That’s why we moved to trucks, because they typically have a higher GVM than conventional buses—in the same class—and trucks, I’ve found, handle the rough terrain in remote Australia better.”
“ IN THE BEGINNING, THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE WE HAD WITH ADVENTURE TOUR TRANSPORT WAS HAVING A STRONG, SAFE, RELIABLE PRODUCT THAT COULD HANDLE THE ENVIRONMENT IT WAS IN” This all happened before the Able was founded, and the first truck build was Kevin’s brainchild; with no external help and no engineering background, he designed and built the truck’s body himself. “The first one took five months to build,” Kevin said.
“I used to work in construction, building houses and warehouses, so I had that experience to help guide me.
“Building the body to fit the truck’s intended purpose… that was a huge learning curve.
“The process taught me the best way to mount the body for the second truck, and I haven’t had to change the formula since.” The success of his new Isuzu truck with the custom-built body didn’t go unnoticed. And over the years, Kevin’s truck earned the attention of other tour companies. This provided Kevin with regular charter work—all on top of his original tours for people with disability. The custom-built Isuzu trucks continued to be introduced to other tour
companies, and landed Kevin his first truck body building gig, with one company asking him to build three Isuzus for them. Able’s business philosophy has always been to build tough, yet safe, reliable and comfortable vehicles that meet the highest standards set by our customers
such as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and NationWide Hire giving us a repeat business rate of over 90 per cent. Able supplies 2WD and 4WD coaches and buses to remote areas throughout Australia particularly for the mining, tourism and community sectors. Company Director, Kevin de Bruin, commenced building buses on a small scale, but demand for ABLE purpose-built coaches has continued to grow.
To date Able has developed and built more than 400 buses and coaches of clients Australia-wide.
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Able’s on-going customer list includes some of Australia’s largest companies including BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Leighton
when you’re in the business of transporting lives. “We chose Isuzu mainly because of the engineering,
a variety of specialty bodies on a range of Isuzu trucks, all to suit a diversity of purposes ranging from mining crew transport and
“We used to specify manuals, but today it’s AMTs and automatics. The trucks go everywhere and in all conditions from
Contractors, MACA, Major Motors, All States Rentals, BGC Contracting, BMA and of course APT. Able are proud to have a highly motivated and skilled workshop team and, together with our professional office and management personnel, guarantee excellent after sales service and assistance. This marked the inception of Able Bus and Coach, which builds
outback touring to school buses and mobile dental clinics. The robust design and quality of Able’s unique product range, built on the reliable Isuzu truck platform, also caught the attention of Australian Pacific Touring (APT). Compared to a typical bus in these applications, the Isuzu truck platform Able uses boasts more power, smoother handling and, overall, more impressive safety features. These all allow Able’s product to become the adventure tour, and specialised transport, vehicle many companies, like APT, had been waiting for. This soon led to over 50 orders of Isuzu trucks with specialised bodies
built by Able Bus and delivered to APT. Recently, Able Bus has expanded their rental vehicle fleet, and has now supplied over 420 Isuzu trucks with purpose-built bodies
reliability and the backup support ,” Kevin said “When we first picked Isuzu, it was based on the size and GVM of the truck. “From my previous experience in remote area travel, I knew what survived and what didn’t in harsh Australian conditions, especially in off-road and more remote regions.
beach driving to corrugated tracks and up the Cape. “The market continues to demand Isuzu in these applications, and as our business has progressed over the years, so have the trucks – there were good to start with and have naturally evolved into an even better product today,” Kevin said. Whether it’s mining companies who need to move their crew, specialised four-wheel-drive mobile dental clinics in remote areas like the Kimberley or Gascoyne regions of WA, or school buses operating in Fitzroy Crossing, you can find one of Able’s Isuzus traversing the Australian landscape, helping get people from A to B and everywhere in between.
to their customers. Through Able Bus’s business development, they have been able to work with a range of different Isuzu truck models. “Our range starts with the Isuzu NLS 45-150 AWD in a 12-seater, complete with walk-in storage, and can be upgraded to a 15-seater on the higher GVM model,” Kevin said.
“With the NLS 45-150, it has a 4.5-tonne GVM, which means it can be driven on a car licence.” Further describing Able’s product range, Kevin said, “Then we go up to an Isuzu NPS 75-155 4x4 22-seater, and then an FRD
110-260 30-seater with walk-in storage area. “We also have other four-wheel drives, such as the FTS 139-260 4x4 that can accommodate 30 to 38 seats.
“ THE MARKET CONTINUES TO DEMAND ISUZU IN THESE APPLICATIONS, AND AS OUR BUSINESS HAS PROGRESSED OVER THE YEARS, SO HAVE THE TRUCKS”
“And finally, the Isuzu FVD 165-300 with 46 or 50 seats; t
his is a two-wheel drive.” Kevin attributes his continuing preference for Isuzu to a range of considerations such as reliability and durability, all imperative
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Innovation
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They say in the entertainment business that there is no such thing as an overnight success and that applies to a lot of other endeavours as well, not the least being the bus business and after more than a decade building electric buses, UK builder Optare is more proof that there is no substitute for a bank of knowledge and experience, particular in the high tech electric bus realm.
I
t seems everywhere you go in the
bus industry, the talk is of electric
and zero emission buses for the future. It is very definitely the topic de jour
and one we have covered extensively here in Coach & Bus.
So it was with a degree of ‘so-what-ism’ that we fielded a call from local Optare factory representative Shannon Taylor,
who was keen to give us the low down on an Optare electric bus that has just landed in Australia and will shortly start trials with local operators down under. It seemed to us that perhaps this was just another electrified bus among many arriving or mooted by bus makers keen to jump on the electric ‘wagon’. However Taylor was at pains to point out that Optare was far from being a
newbie in the electric bus business having
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been a pioneer in the field in its native UK more than a decade ago. In fact when we delved into a bit of research we could
A mechanical engineer originally, Drewery completed an MBA and has been very much in the commercial realm using his
for close to 30 years, so Drewery brings a keen knowledge of where the business has been and more importantly where it
field in the UK , thanks to the moves by various councils to ban or reduce the use of internal combustion in city centres
conquest sales in the UK, Europe and across the globe and has spearheaded Optare’s shift to zero emission vehicles.
discuss the company’s electric credentials. Optare started its zero emission journey more than a decade ago, in 2009, and
see that Optare has been a leader in the
around the UK, along with a growing drive by operators to move away from diesel, particularly in densely populated areas and on urban shuttle services. The Optare people were quick to set up an interview with the company’s
Commercial Director, Robert Drewery who has been one of the driving forces in the organisation as it move to satisfy demand for zero emission.
Drewery has worked closely with UK
operators and transport authorities to win some of Optare’s ground breaking zero emission bus orders totalling more than
$AUD90 million (£50m) in the last five years.
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engineering knowledge to drive Optare’s
Drewery has targeted exports as a key source of growth for Optare and has grown the company’s activities in the Asia Pacific, restructuring the oceanic
dealerships in 2016, recruiting Taylor as the local sales manager and signed up
one of the largest vehicle dealer groups in the region to deliver the expansion. The first fruits of that were when it won the
$AUD37 million (£21m) Tranzit order in the NZ capital, Wellington in 2017, feeding a growth in orders of 25 per cent in three years.
He has been in and around the vehicle industry and in particular the bus industry
is going. Which is why he is so keen to
that was with a bus that used lithium ion batteries, the Optare Solo, the company’s
smallest bus, and it had about 60 kilowatt hour batteries and would do around about 60 to 80 km on a charge. According to Robert Drewery, Optare went down the path of adding more batteries to the bus and got to about 138 kilowatt hours without really changing the technology.
“Because we’ve got a lightweight platform, we’re limited on the amount of weight we can put on the bus, before we
start adding the passengers on, and that’s obviously not where we wanted to be,”
said Drewery. “About three, four years ago, we went after new chemistries, which were starting
supporting the infrastructure,” he said. Drewery said that Europe and the rest of the world is really waking up to the need
from the car industry starting to invest in EVs and some serious money going into battery development, which as a bus
Optare is using is an efficient one. “It’s not only the size of the batteries and the impact that it has on vehicle cost,
to appear, and again, we benefited really
manufacturer, we couldn’t hope to bring to the party,” Drewery added.
Drewery explained that at the moment in the UK, in what is a temperate climate, in winter in particular, the buses don’t have the same kind of air conditioning loads that we would see in Australia. “In the UK we’re talking about 240km on a charge, and I think within two or
three years we’ll be talking over 300km
on a charge, and really once we get to that, once we get to that level, really any discussion around range in a temperate
climate will cease to be relevant and then really it’s about driving down cost and
for zero emission and thinks the approach
but it’s also the operating cost of the vehicle, rather than the amount of energy it uses, which of course, at the moment, is very low cost, but it’s the cost of the infrastructure,” he added. “The fact is charging infrastructure is
the most critical point, because if you double the consumption, and the bus still has to go out at the same time the
next day, it means you have to double the
charging power, and there’s a square law relationship between the amount of power you’re having to put into the depot and the cost of that infrastructure,” Drewery said. The Optare executive said that the
company has learned some valuable lessons from the vehicles it has built for and supplied to New Zealand and that it
has applied those lessons to its electric
buses, because that brings very practical weight reduction for little cost and increasing benefit.
“I firmly believe this is the right path and I think it’ll be interesting to see how all vehicles change as they adapt to being zero emission, because internal combustion engines wasted a huge
amount of energy from a very dense power source, and could do so, whereas at the moment, zero emission vehicles can’t afford to waste energy, and there’s good practice there in terms of a world that is trying to reduce its demand for energy, so I can only see this as positive,” Drewery proferred.
Drewery says that the passenger experience, the driver experience and
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the operator experience are also important as the technology develops. “It is getting better and better, particularly for urban transport, there really isn’t any noise, particulate or other harmful
emissions and compared with a diesel bus it’s just a much more pleasant place to be,” said Drewery. Back in 2009 in the UK, there were a number of local authorities that were getting increasingly concerned about air quality linked to road traffic, and according to Drewery they wanted to make a statement and start a journey to be less
reliant on internal combustion engines. “Most of the projects that we did back
then were for park and ride schemes, where they took the traffic out of the town
and the traffic that was coming into the town was battery electric, and that’s most of the stuff that we did,” he added.
Up until probably 2015, Optare did work in the UK cities of Nottingham and in York,
all primarily park and ride based operations that saw private car use limited down town with passengers parking on the fringes and then ferried around the inner city in the electric buses. Nottingham also did use the buses on scheduled routes as well, but doing it with a bus that does around about 120km to 145km on a charge.
Drewery admits that sort of range limited the electric bus’s application so operators had to change the way they viewed the routes and how they managed them.
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“The technology was relatively expensive and that turned the operator off, and also it was the technical risk, I think, at the time. It was a new technology, the car industry only had a few electric prototypes running at the time,” said Drewery. “Tesla was a glint in somebody’s eye, and I can remember having conversations with customers probably as late as 2018 where they were asking, ‘If we needed to, could we convert this back to a diesel?’ Ironically, and coming back to this point about change, now I am getting people asking me, “Can I convert this diesel to an electric?” Drewery emphasises this point and how the mindset change has happened
in just a few years and adds that at the moment 90 per cent of what he is doing is battery electric.
have also told manufacturers they will not be buying diesel buses. “One of those is National Express, and they’ve actually said they’re not
going to buy any more vehicles with a diesel engine, while FirstGroup, which is
probably the second largest operator in the UK, they’ve said that after 2023 they’re not going to buy anything with a diesel engine, ”Drewery said. “What that effectively means, is that many operators are not going to buy any
more diesel engine vehicles. In my opinion, I think what will happen very rapidly now, is that people will move away from diesel in the UK,” he added.
Drewery adds that he doesn’t think that’s true of all the market, because there are
“In terms of volume at the moment, it’s probably about 60 to 70 per cent, but in
still areas where battery electric can’t support that, but in a domestic sense, he thinks the vast majority of demand
Drewery explains that in the UK, a lot of cities are now talking about a 2025
“It’ll be interesting to see how that pans out, but with the investment that’s going into this now you have to recognise that
terms of business development it’s about 90 per cent zero emission .
hard floor for internal combustion engine vehicles, which means that after 2025 operators will not be allowed to operate an internal combustion engine in the city centre, primarily focused around goods and heavy vehicles such as buses. Drewery says that apart from
governments putting in place ‘hard floors’
for removing internal combustion engines, some of our largest operators in the UK
will become battery electric.
the technology it is going to happen very quickly,” Drewery concluded.
With the speed things are already moving at we tend to believe Drewery’s assessment but like they say in show business, it takes a decade to be an overnight success, and if that is so,
Optare may well be in a strong position for success in electric buses in Australia as it has in the UK already. Only time will tell.
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A bus collection in Tasmania has gathered a fleet of buses that trace much of the last 50 years of Volvo bus operations in Australia. We travel to the Apple Isle to take a look at the collection.
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W
hen Volvo first started selling its cars and trucks in Australia in the second half of the 1960s no one could
have predicted that the Swedish maker
would become such an icon of safety and design on Australian roads, let alone that
one day Volvo buses would be a prominent and vital bus brand ferrying commuters in our cities and transporting travellers and tourists on its coaches.
Volvo buses arrived on our road a
handful of years after the first trucks and
cars started appearing down under, in fact the first Volvo buses hit our bus routes in
1971, meaning of course that 2021 will
mark the 50th anniversary of Volvo buses in Australia.
When the first Volvo buses arrived in
Australia, the city route bus network was dominated by Leyland, a brand which today doesn’t even exist, but while
Leyland fell by the wayside, Volvo has
thrived and grown to be a major brand in the bus market.
As 2021 approaches and Volvo
prepares for the significant milestone
one organisation that has been helping
to preserve the history of Volvo Bus alive
throughout the past five decades has been
the Tasmanian Bus and Coach Society and its secretary Neil Robins, who has ensured that the society’s impressive collection of historic Volvos has been preserved and
maintained, to protect the role the brand has played in passenger transport over almost half a century.
Neil Robbins has notched up 37 years
working in the bus industry and has lived and breathed buses for as long as he can remember.
He recalls fond memories as a child,
of being surrounded by buses in his
local community. Neil got to know every
community bus driver in his area as well as the different bus makes and models because they were his main mode of transport.
Neil’s love for buses continued into
his youth and adulthood where he
landed his first job in the industry as a
community bus driver at Redline Coaches in Tasmania. He spent years passionately working for Redlines and would later be promoted to its operating manager.
In 2010 Neil and other Tasmanian bus
enthusiasts created the Tasmanian Bus
and Coach Society, in response to a need
to establish a body for Tasmanian bus and transport enthusiasts, with Neil assuming the role of Secretary.
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The society quickly become established
and recognised for conducting unique and
enthralling enthusiast bus tours showcasing Tasmania’s spectacular scenery and unique transport vehicles and operators. Neil proudly describes his tours as Australia’s only “living museum” in actively exhibiting across Tasmania to the public, covering anywhere from 30km to 600km
in one tour. Though in order to embark on these great tours, the Tasmanian Bus and Coach Society spend many of their hours
up keeping and preserving the integrity of their historic vehicles.
The Tasmanian Bus and Coach Society
currently own 11 vintage buses, three of which are Volvos. These historic Volvo buses include a 1978 B58 / PMC, a 1985 B10M / PMC artic and a 1988. B10M / Custom Hyliner touring coach, while Neil
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also personally owns an impressive
1980 Volvo B58 / Volgren Hess body. The 1978 Volvo B58 / PMC, nicknamed “Tassie Bluebird”, has a long history of its own, and has spent its whole life in Tasmania. It was acquired by the society in 2016 and has won numerous awards
Hess body, it was the first articulated bus in Tasmania and also the very first Volvo
bus Neil ever drove way back in the 1980s and he has now owned it for four years.
“It is absolutely wonderful to see people like Neil the members of the Tasmanian
throughout the years - even at truck shows.
Bus and Coach Society preserving the true spirit, passion and history of the bus
Metro Tasmania bus and was the oldest bus in Government service when donated to the society.
“My future vision for the society is having a fully enclosed depot which can operate as a proper museum and be opened to
The 1985 Volvo B10M / PMC artic was previously a Metropolitan Transport Trust/
The 1988 Volvo B10M / Custom Hyliner,
is the society’s latest addition and was donated by Rob and Fruncine Sainty
from Launceston in April 2020 and was originally operated by Westbus in NSW and Coachlink in Queensland.
As for Neil’s 1980 Volvo B58 / Volgren
industry,” says David Mead, acting general manager of Volvo Bus Australia.
the public. I am trying to get others more
involved, so I can step back and let the younger brigade take on the reins, but the prime goal at moment is to establish the premises we already have and to develop it more with extended undercover areas,” said Neil Robbins.
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LCV
Australia is in love with dual cab utes, it can’t be stated more clearly than that. We take a drive in Nissan’s latest up spec dual cab Navara ute the N-trek Warrior to see how it performs.
O
nce the province of tradies and council
inspectors, one tonne dual cab utes are now morphing to fill so many different niches in the market these days, making
them attractive for everyone from families with a
couple of kids to young blokes and gals looking for an alternative sports car, to grey nomads towing caravans, off road warriors exploring near
impassable bush tracks, oh and even those tradies and council inspectors.
version of Nissan’s workhorse Navara, which has
been developed locally to give the maker a model to plug that premium end of the ute market that its parent company in Japan could not supply.
Nissan teamed up with local vehicle modification
partner Premcar to come up with the N-trek Warrior based on the top of the range Navara. The Warrior’s add-ons are assembled and fitted locally by Premcar which also did all the design and engineering work for the package with Nissan approval.
The fact that the ute sector is the best-selling category in the market these days, indicates that they straddle a wide and diverse church of users
Premcar came up with a suspension package for the Warrior along with underbody protection,
Ranger Raptor, Toyota’s HiLux Rugged X and Volkswagen’s Amarok TD580 V6, to name but a few. One of the newest sports utes on the market is
barely discernible from a normal bumper and has an protruding protection bars making it neater and
and has seen the development of utes like, Ford’s
the Navara N-trek Warrior, a tricked up, specced up
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a new integrated sports alloy bull bar, that is not like bull bars of old. It is made from alloy and is
a whole lot better looking. There is also a Hella
sourced LED light bar, black sports bar
8.0-inch touch-screen with Apple Carplay
Amarok blows them all out of the water,
package and interior style features
delivers good and bad in almost equal
the clear standard setter. For all the dress
behind the cabin, side steps, roof rails and a tub-liner to protect the tray. Along with that there is an external visual that proclaim it as the ‘N-trek Warrior’. Apart from the suspension mods, under the bonnet the Warrior’s driveline remains pretty standard, with Nissan’s trusty and proven, 2.3-litre, twin-turbo four-cylinder
diesel, with either a six-speed manual or seven-speed auto bolted to the back of it There is also a standard selectable 4x4
system with high and low-range as well as electronic locking rear diff. Interior wise the N-trek gets leather trim, heated front seats, with the driver’s seat featuring eight-way power adjustment, an
and Android Auto, sat-nav, cruise control and dual-zone climate control air con. Climb behind the wheel and the Warrior
measures. The 2.3 turbo diesel is not the worst in the ute class but it is far from the best either. Unfortunately the engine is just a bit rattly and agricultural by comparison with the better utes these days, and it lacks oomph from take-off in our opinion. The engine whacks out 140kW of power and 450Nm of torque, which is on a par with Toyota’s fairly ordinary 2.8
litre HiLux and is not far off the output of Ford’s new twin turbo two litre Ranger powerplant. However the smooth and cultured VW 2-litre in the four cylinder
while the Mercedes V6 fitted to the Navara based Benz X class is way ahead and the Porsche developed V6 in the Amarok is up and add-ons in the Warrior the engine and driveline is the disappointment. As we say, it is not bad, but it does nothing to enthuse the driver and the seven-speed auto does not produce the
sharp and almost imperceptible shifts of many latest gen transmissions, which only adds up to a perception that the overall performance is a bit plodding.
During a week with the Navara we had a trip over the Blue Mountains to the forests around Oberon, covering a lots of
gravel roads as well as give and take back
www.truckandbus.net.au 057
country tarmac, which was generally in pretty ordinary condition, and while the driveline performance lacked excitement the suspension upgrades and overall handing package is quite good. Premcar, which grew out of the old ProDrive/Tickford engineering consultancy,
has reduced the departure clearance.
of the N-Trek Warrior. Given the cost and complexity of major engine mods would
Raptor, which the Warrior is bidding to emulate, the suspension improvements
which did a lot of Ford’s FPV Falcon engineering, handled the development
have inflated the Warrior’s price and made it uncompetitive in the improved ute market, the boffins at Premcar
Our test in the Oberon forest did not bring
bumps without judder or float with the five-link coil rear-end putting power
gave the Warrior’s upgraded suspension plenty of opportunity to shine and that is exactly what it did. Like the Ford Ranger
its standard issue sibling. Even unladen the ride and handling worked well which is not always the case with utes designed
up any serious issues with the departure angle and we figure it would be no real problem for the majority of users. The 300km round trip up into the forests
have made a world of difference. They are not in the same realm as the Raptor’s Fox
concentrated on the suspension, fitting
Racing Shocks, but at a much lower and more competitive price, the Warrior still
with 275/70 Cooper AT3 all-terrain tyres on
ordinary country bitumen or gravel roads
larger diameter Monroe shocks, with Premcar re-tuned valving, new dual-rate springs, with front jounce bumpers along
17-inch Rosta alloy wheels. With that revised suspension package the Navara rides higher with an added 40
mm of ground clearance, with an improved approach and ramp angle, while the front and rear track has grown by 30mm. For all of that the Warrior’s tow bar and cross member had to be changed to cope with
the larger Cooper shod spare wheel which
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does a pretty fair job. It didn’t matter if it was on smooth motorways, two lane country roads,
to the ground without drama. Overall on all surfaces the Warrior had a firmer and more controlled feel with a better overall ride and less body roll than
to cart loads. Inside the Warrior there are some
limitations that show up with the Navara design, including the very flat and bench
like front seats, that feel like you are sitting on them not in them, a lack of height
adjustment and the limited steering wheel reach, which all make it hard to get a really ideal driving position for all drivers. Looking at the positives the Navara
and forestry tracks, the Warrior took things in its stride and coped very well, in fact much better than the standard Navara.
boasts excellent rear seat room and rear seat passengers also benefit from their own air con vents which is a plus many
speed on tarmac while providing excellent grip on both sealed road and the gravel. The longer-travel suspension ambled over
towing capacity remains unchanged but because the Warrior’s extra equipment has inflated the tare weight the payload has
The big Cooper tyres although very aggressive were not overly noisy at cruise
the rough stuff, handling corrugations and
ute don’t offer. The Navara’s normal 3500kg braked
dropped almost 200kg down from 917kg
to 724kg, which is a fair whack when all is said and done Across a wide range of operating conditions we recorded an average fuel consumption of 9.3L/100km, and given we didn’t spare the Nissan we were pretty pleased with that result, even though
well positioned with driveaway pricing of $63,490 for the manual and $65,990 for the self-shifter. Compared with comparable ‘sports utes’, that measures up pretty well undercutting the Ranger Raptor by between $11,000 and $13,000, although the Raptor’s suspension is pretty
that tips the scales at just under 2.2 tonnes so anything under 10 L/100km
and the Ranger Wildtrak, but nothing that would be a deal breaker for most.
Nissan claims 7.0L/100km average for the Warrior. Let’s face it this is a workhorse
is a result we reckon. Some have derided the lack of new age safety tech in the Navara such as
special and puts it in a league of its own. It is slightly more than the HiLux Rugged X
Nissan’s five-year/unlimited kilometre factory warranty along with capped-price 12-month/20,000km servicing plan for the
OVERALL RATING
7
that the overall cost for the servicing over that period is maxed out at $3769, makes the ownership equation pretty economical.
DRIVING EXPERIENCE
8
EXTERIOR STYLING
8
down for drivers and the signal to pay less attention and have less focus on the driving task. In its favour the Navara
the Navara N-Trek Warrior, despite the pedestrian powertrain and some other small drawbacks. However for a
TECHNOLOGY AND CONNECTIVITY
7
FAMILY FRIENDLINESS
7
and a five-star safety ANCAP rating, as well as seven airbags, Hill descent control, hill start assist and stability/ traction control.
suspension package and strong visual highlights, that is priced competitively and has strong warranty, fixed price servicing and equipment list the Warrior
VALUE FOR MONEY
7
autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise and blind-spot warning, all of which is now available on Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger and Mitsubishi Triton but we reckon that trend represents a dumbing
Warrior does have a 360-degree camera
When it comes to price the Warrior is
first six years of ownership, which means
There is quite a bit to like about
tricked up ‘sports ute’ with a very good
INTERIOR LOOK AND FEEL 7
will win fans.
www.truckandbus.net.au 059
Company Car
MIDDLE OF THE ROAD At some point in our evolutionary history our DNA was corrupted and as a race we decided that SUVs were a better proposition for personal transport than small hatches or wagons. We take a drive in Hyundai’s good, but slightly uninspiring Tucson Activ.
I
t must have been a quirk of evolution, because, if you apply logic, there
could be no reason why we would swap smaller, more efficient cars with ones that are heavier, offer no more
space internally, and have a higher centre of gravity and frontal profile, giving less aerodynamic efficiency and dynamic stability, but that seems to be what
has happened. Sure there’s still plenty of small hatches sold, but compact wagons have all but disappeared in favour of the almost ubiquitous Sport Utility Vehicle or SUV, and every car maker on the planet has
clamoured to offer them to car buyers. The irony is most SUVs aren’t very sporty
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nor do they offer much extra utility
petrol engine which does a reasonable job
You might have guessed that this writer is not a huge SUV fan, and you are right. Give me a lithe, low profile, wagon, sedan
more powerful turbo 1.6 litre petrol engine available in the AWD Tucsons would be a better fit in many ways.
over a hatch or wagon. Just sayin’!
or hatch any day of the week, they handle better, they stop better and they use less
of the planet’s resources in getting places. But what would we know? So it was that we climbed aboard the latest version of Hyundai’s Tucson Activ,
of pushing the Tucson along, although the
The non turbo 2.0-litre delivers 122kW of power and 205 Nm of torque which is sufficient, but not overly abundant,
and at times it does struggle. Maximum torque is made well up the rev range at 4000rpm, so don’t expect a hard lugging
the test car being a front drive version of the model. There is also an all-wheel drive version and a range of trim and engine
donk that pushes you back in the seat on take off. It has to be revved, and when
The Active is powered by a normally aspirated 2.0litre four-cylinder twin cam
reasonable performance. It’s mated to a traditional torque
options across the range.
you pile the luggage and passengers in
it does need to be rowed along to deliver
converter six-speed auto and while
Head off on to well-made gravel roads
Inside the cabin its neat and tidy
the engine and transmission works
and it still works OK, but don’t let the fact
but again, generally uninspiring with a
During our week with the Tucson Active we covered mostly suburban and city
head back to the smooth stuff would be our advice.
level vehicle and the fit out meets that expectation, it is mid-level and average.
fine it does nothing special, it’s OK but generally unremarkable. It’s inoffensive, but largely uninspiring
driving, with a short excursion into some rural areas on Sydney’s fringe, where we
got to try the front drive Hyundai on some relatively smooth gravel roads. It handled city driving fine, rolling along in urban traffic with little fuss. At cruise speed on the highway or motorway the Tucson travels nicely, it is quiet,
smooth and boasts comfortable and well controlled ride.
that it is an SUV fool you into thinking you are in an off road vehicle. When the going gets rough, turn the Tucson around and
Back on the blacktop the Active 2.0litre does the job, and during our time with it we averaged just over 9.4 L/100km fuel consumption, which for a compact SUV
isn’t all that frugal in our eyes. Hyundai claims a combined average of 7.9L/100km and 11.0L/100km in urban running, which is not all that economical for a compact SUV, but underlines our arguments in favour of lighter and lower profile cars.
colour palette of mid greys and blacks abounding. The interior is neatly trimmed and well laid out, but this is as mid-
The Active features a 7.0 inch centre Infotainment screen, which is slightly
smaller and lacking some of the features of the more expensive Active X variant.
The Active’s system boasts AM/FM radio, but no DAB digital radio tuner, like most other new cars of this ilk. It does however get Apple Carplay and Android Auto, and the near obligatory Bluetooth connectivity, however it lacks Sat Nav,
www.truckandbus.net.au 061
which is no great problem because with Carplay and Android, Google maps can
boasts 488 litres. The load area is wide and easily accessed so the space is very
paid servicing packages for the car’s 12-month/15,000km intervals. While fuel
tends to be easier and more intuitive to use. If you do want DAB or SatNav you will need to pay the $3000 extra for the
a nice flat floor. It features a 40:60 splitfold rear seat that allows you to expand the load area to a convenient 1478 litres
SUV like this the overall cost of ownership should be pretty reasonable. At an rrp of $30,990 drive-away the
be accessed from your phone, which
X model and its 8.0 inch screen. Controls, instruments and the
infotainment screen are easy to read and use with good illumination at night and are easy reading in daylight as well. Again, there is nothing offensive about the interior, the seats are good, they’re comfortable and offer strong support and everything in the cabin generally falls easily to hand. However there is
little to help the Tucson Active stand out in a crowded compact SUV market. Inside, space wise the Tucson offers good head room and acceptable leg
room for decent adult-size comfort, while cargo space in the rear luggage area, is comparable with other offerings in the
sector of the SUV sector. The luggage area
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usable and features tie-down points and
with the seats stowed. Thankfully the flat floor hides a full size spare wheel, unlike
some other SUVs. How car makers think you can travel this challenging country in
an SUV without a full size spare, is almost beyond comprehension. In terms of safety the Active does get a suite of active safety technology packaged up in Hyundai’s Forward Collision Avoidance Assist technology.
This gives you lane-keep assistance, guided reversing camera and rear parking sensors and a base level AEB systems using a camera-based system that
functions at urban speed. Hyundai gives its standard five-year/ unlimited-kilometre warranty on the Tucson and also offers a range of pre-
consumption may be a bit high for an
Hyundai Tucson Active represents pretty strong value without troubling the
automotive excitement meter. If convenient, cost effective and trouble
free motoring in a small SUV package is what you are after, and you’re not seeking
pizzazz, neck snapping performance or any admiring glances from other motorists, then the Tucson Active may well be might be the motor for you.
As we say, the Tucson does everything it needs to do and does nothing badly, but it does nothing exceptionally either. It is inoffensive, if bland, but will deliver
you where you need to go at a reasonable price, with reliability and dependability and strong back up from the manufacturer. It is just not our cup of tea.
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064 Money Matters SUPER SAVINGS BENEFIT FROM BUDGET REFORMS
A
ustralia’s super savings are now worth more than $3 trillion. That’s good news, but there are weak spots in the system including
over $20 billion in lost and forgotten accounts, and close to four in ten people
still have more than one super account. Having multiple super balances not only makes it harder to keep track of your
retirement savings, it also means doubling up on fund fees and unnecessary life
insurance premiums. Both will white ant your
retirement nest egg. Already Australians are paying $450 million a year in unnecessary fees as a result of multiple accounts.
So it’s good news that the latest Federal Budget includes steps to help workers stick with just one super fund through their working life. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced that new super accounts will no longer be automatically created every time a worker changes jobs. We’ve been able to take our super with
us from job to job for many years now, however the sheer volume of multiple
regulator APRA. Repeat poor performers
will have to explain their lacklustre results to members, and may even be banned from taking on new members.
The upshot of measures is that our super savings are set to benefit to the tune of
$17.9 billion over the next decade. But why wait for the Budget measures to pass through parliament? It’s always a good idea to take a look at your super at least quarterly to see how your account balance is tracking. If you have multiple super accounts, consider folding the lot into one fund. Head to the website of the super fund you want to hold onto for details of how to do this. It shouldn’t cost more than a few minutes of your time. Meantime one of the few upsides of COVID-19 is that Australians are taking a closer look at how they manage their money.
There’s nothing like a crisis to jolt us into action, and research by RateCity shows that 42 per cent of Australians are more
proactive about managing their money as a
reform that will see workers stapled to a
result of Coronavirus. Young Australians in particular are taking the bull by the horns. Six out of ten 18-34-year-olds now take
super fund in the first place. Happily,
is that we’re saving rather than spending. An extra $64 billion has been deposited
accounts shows this doesn’t always
happen. The downside of the Budget
particular fund is that it could mean being locked in to a poor performer. This makes it especially important to select a decent reforms are on the agenda here too.
With over 200 different retail and industry super funds to choose from, it’s not easy comparing funds. That should change with
the launch of a new online comparison tool known as ‘YourSuper’ to be maintained by the Tax Office. It will allow a straightforward
The question is, with rates so low, are you
making the most of your extra savings? This is where it’s important to look at both sides of the ledger. If you’re growing savings while also carrying high interest credit card debt, it’s a no-brainer that you’re likely to be better off using savings to pay down debt. You could be earning just 2% on a savings account while paying double-digit interest on card debt. If you don’t expect to need cash savings over the short term, it can make sense to invest any excess to earn a better return.
This calls for thinking about long term goals.
Investing surplus savings in the sharemarket through, say, an exchange traded fund (ETF) does mean taking on
more risk. The payoff can be higher long
term returns. In the six months since global sharemarkets nosedived as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns, the ASX 200 Total
into bank accounts since March, helping households build a valuable buffer of
at historic lows for some time, potentially several years. The main point is that taking an active
emergency cash. We’re also taking a closer look at personal debt. Credit card debt attracting interest has dropped 20 per cent
up poor results will be encouraged to lift their game. Super funds will be required
of us, these are positive changes. I suspect a lot of the growth in savings reflects travel
064 www.truckandbus.net.au
financial challenges that lie ahead.
Returns Index (which includes dividends) has climbed 30%. When it comes to savings accounts, the Reserve Bank has
since March, and over 110,000 home owners have refinanced their mortgage, presumably to get a better deal.
to meet an annual performance test set by
job security. Whatever the case, taking the time to get your money matters in good shape now, will leave you better placed to handle any
more of an interest in money matters. One of the big impacts of the pandemic
comparison of fees and returns across super funds.
In addition, funds that consistently dish
in nightlife, and uncertainty around
In a year that’s been challenging for all
plans that have gone up in smoke, a reined
made it clear that interest rates will stay
interest in your financial wellbeing is a smart move at any time. Amid the
uncertainty of a pandemic it’s doubly important. Having a pool of savings gives us choices over our financial lives, something that can be
very reassuring at a time when we all face plenty of unknowns. Paul Clitheroe is Chairman of InvestSMART, Chair of the Ecstra Foundation and chief commentator for Money Magazine.
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