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