Volvo Buses To Deliver Its First EV Buses In Australia

Volvo Buses will try to compete with Chinese manufacturers in Australia.

Volvo Buses has announced that next year it will expand its electric bus business into Australia, where first EVs will be deployed in the city of Perth by the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia (PTA), as part of the existing volume deal for 900 vehicles.

The initial order for four 11.7-meter long vehicles will be completed in partnership with Volgren Australia, which will locally build the buses, using Volvo Buses’ rolling chassis, supplied from Europe.

“The units will be all-electric 11.7-metre long, 2.5 metre wide vehicles with local Australian bodies designed and built by Volgren Australia. Whilst these units will be the first of their kind for Volvo in the Asia-Pacific region, the chassis’ are based on established Volvo technology already implemented in Europe.”

Those vehicles will be delivered in late 2021. The full commercialization of the localized electric bus solution for Australia is scheduled for 2022.

Meanwhile, in Europe, Volvo Buses already sold hundreds of EVs and covered a total of 10 million km (over 6 million miles).

Volvo 7900 Electric (left) and Volvo 7900 Electric Articulated (right)