Speaker 1: Twenty two past three. I received a tip off late
Speaker 1: last week about issues more issues with electric buses at
Speaker 1: a particular depot in Sydney. I can reveal this afternoon
Speaker 1: we have a major problem with the electric bus fleet
Speaker 1: in Sydney. I've confirmed that dozens do not work. Simple
Speaker 1: as that. My initial contact told me there are sixteen
Speaker 1: buses at the Speed and Grange depot in the Southwest,
Speaker 1: sixteen electric buses that are not being used, that have
Speaker 1: been sitting there at the depot for some time. That
Speaker 1: depot was operated by Transit Systems. Now my contact works
Speaker 1: on buses and they tell me they've been sitting idle
Speaker 1: and they were concerned that the axles themselves have seized up. Well.
Speaker 1: I alluded to this a couple of days ago, and
Speaker 1: as a result, I've been sent lots of correspondence by you,
Speaker 1: our listeners, telling me about more problems within the industry,
Speaker 1: telling me about problems specifically with electric buses, and just
Speaker 1: from the outset. Let me make this clear, forget issues
Speaker 1: about climate change. I actually think the transition to electric buses,
Speaker 1: if it makes financial sense, may well be a good
Speaker 1: thing in the long term. They're quiet if you're in traffic.
Speaker 1: You're not stuck behind a bus that's spewing out diesel
Speaker 1: from its tail pipe, So it does make some sense,
Speaker 1: but it's pretty clear from what I've discovered today, the
Speaker 1: government has rushed into this over the last couple of
Speaker 1: years and they're not getting it right. So what I've
Speaker 1: been found out I've confirmed this now from Transport for
Speaker 1: New South Wales is the problem that was identified by
Speaker 1: my contact is actually much worse than they thought. The
Speaker 1: departments told me. In twenty twenty two, an order was
Speaker 1: placed for seventy two Element I electric buses from a
Speaker 1: local manufacturer, Custom Denning. They're based in some areas. I've
Speaker 1: actually been to their premises during the rollout. A number
Speaker 1: of reliability issues were identified. The cause of several performance
Speaker 1: and reliability issues has been attributed to the batteries they use.
Speaker 1: The element IE buses require new batteries to be installed.
Speaker 1: So that's seventy two buses that have been ordered from
Speaker 1: Custom Denning. They all need new batteries already. That's far
Speaker 1: beyond the sixteen I was initially told about. All seventy
Speaker 1: two need new batteries. Transport for New South Wales tells
Speaker 1: me Custom Denning is undertaking a retrofit program directify the buses.
Speaker 1: We expect these buses will be returned to service progressively
Speaker 1: into early twenty twenty six, so next year. The seventy
Speaker 1: two buses that are ordered back in twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: will not be in service until next year in full
Speaker 1: because they've got problems with the batteries. Transport for New
Speaker 1: South Wales tells me there are currently seventeen element Ie
Speaker 1: buses on the network. Two have had the retrofit completed,
Speaker 1: so two have new batteries Custom Denning Element one electric
Speaker 1: buses not in service are either in the process of
Speaker 1: being retrofitted so that means fixed or in storage awaiting retrofitting.
Speaker 1: Eleven are currently stored at the Transport for New South
Speaker 1: Wales holding at Smeaton Grange. So the buses I told
Speaker 1: you about, so seventy two electric buses we order, two
Speaker 1: are fully working. There are two that have had the
Speaker 1: new butteries installed. That's all, and electric buses are worth
Speaker 1: in the vicinity of a million dollars. Now. I've had
Speaker 1: further correspondence from our listeners this week, some who work
Speaker 1: as bus drivers, others who work in the industry I
Speaker 1: won't name them because they value their jobs and I
Speaker 1: appreciate their confidential information. This is regarding the Smeaton Grange depot.
Speaker 1: My listener says there are approximately twenty five buses there.
Speaker 1: They've been out of action for six months. They need
Speaker 1: major repairs before they can go back into service. These
Speaker 1: buses have been played by problems ever since they're delivery
Speaker 1: to Transport the New South Wales. There are a large
Speaker 1: number of ev buses parked at the Sydney Bus Museum,
Speaker 1: which is behind the Leichhart Bus Depot. They've been paid
Speaker 1: for by the Transport Department, so Transport for New South Wales.
Speaker 1: They've never gone into service. That's from a bus driver.
Speaker 1: Another contact of mine tells me there are at least
Speaker 1: three electric buses operated by Transit Systems part near an
Speaker 1: RMS road emergency vehicle and tow truck facility at Arndill Park.
Speaker 1: It's near the intersection of the Great Western Highway Reservoir Road,
Speaker 1: just down from the bunnings. You can see them. They're
Speaker 1: sitting there in a grassy area. They're not hooked up
Speaker 1: to power anything. Now, this information from a bus driver.
Speaker 1: He drives an electric bus and its actually quite disturbing,
Speaker 1: he tells me. There have been many issues with these
Speaker 1: buses simply not working. They stop, The bus will stop
Speaker 1: and you have to reset it. It can happen in traffic.
Speaker 1: It has a bus stops of traffic lights. If this occurs,
Speaker 1: the buses need to be completely shut down for two
Speaker 1: to three minutes in the traffic. This causes to stress
Speaker 1: to bus drivers and passengers and other road users. Also,
Speaker 1: with the batteries in these buses, they're on the roof
Speaker 1: of the bus, they're top heavy. If any of these
Speaker 1: buses ever caught fire, the occupant's not going to have
Speaker 1: long to get out of the bus. This is a
Speaker 1: driver of electric buses, he says, I personally believe these
Speaker 1: buses should not be on the roads until they're being
Speaker 1: charged one hundred percent from renewables. Now that raises the
Speaker 1: issue that i'd brought you a couple of months ago.
Speaker 1: We were sent photos of diesel generators diesel generators that
Speaker 1: electric buses have been plugged into, and Transport for New
Speaker 1: South Wales did confirm that to me a couple of
Speaker 1: months ago that they are charging some buses with diesel
Speaker 1: generators completely misses the point doesn't it. One of my
Speaker 1: listeners writes, we have some of these buses that are
Speaker 1: made in some Mary's. Let me tell you, straight off
Speaker 1: the bat most of these electric buses in Sydney, because
Speaker 1: there are on the road. Most of these buses do
Speaker 1: not charge via renewables. It's straight off the grid. Now,
Speaker 1: I don't think the concept of electric buses is all
Speaker 1: that bad. I don't think any of us like to
Speaker 1: be behind a diesel bus that's spewing out smoke. And
Speaker 1: some of them are great, lord of my bart but
Speaker 1: quite simply, the industry is not ready for electric buses
Speaker 1: in Sydney. The charging infrastructure poor. They're either plugged into
Speaker 1: the grid or worse, diesel generators. So pointless from an
Speaker 1: environmental point of view. But even worse as the fact
Speaker 1: that taxpayers us we have ordered seventy two of these
Speaker 1: buses and they've got forty batteries. Only two of them
Speaker 1: have been fixed so far, and the rest in full
Speaker 1: won't be in service until next year. And as now,
Speaker 1: drivers have told me they're concerned about the safety risk
Speaker 1: when the damn buses just stopped for no reason at
Speaker 1: a set of lights and it needs three minutes for
Speaker 1: a restart. It's not good enough. We are living out
Speaker 1: this ev fantasy before the city is ready. And why well,
Speaker 1: it's so we can tick a box and bureaucrats and
Speaker 1: people in the department can make themselves feel good that
Speaker 1: they're being environmentally friendly and they're saving the planet. It
Speaker 1: ain't working