Cape Town’s urban mobility directorate expects to take delivery of its first electric bus (e-bus) in August, with another 13 e-buses to arrive between October and December.
This, as the city intends to roll out the electric bus fleet along the MyCiTi routes that operate in the metro south-east, including the new routes that will form part of phase 2A.
In a statement, the urban mobility directorate says it’s looking to take delivery of 30 low-floor electric buses between August and June 2027.
These are 12-metre Volvo BZRLEelectric buses and the first where the bus bodies are manufactured locally, in Johannesburg, it adds.
“The delivery of the electric bus fleet cannot be more timeous, given the volatility of the energy markets and uncertain geopolitical environment,” says mayoral committee member for urban mobility Rob Quintas.
“Apart from lowering our carbon emissions, an electric bus fleet could offer multiple other benefits, especially as far as maintenance and operational costs are concerned. Some countries operating e-buses have noted a reduction of up to 70% in operating costs.”
In line with its electric bus fleet efforts, the city, together with the University of Cape Town, will also conduct research in the coming months.
The study is to determine the type of savings it can look forward to, as well as to test and understand how electric buses will operate as part of the MyCiTi bus fleet.
The e-bus research is funded by the City of Cape Town and through a grant from the Urban Electric Mobility Initiative.
The e-buses will be tested on existing MyCiTi routes for 12 months, to determine how they perform on different route profiles, how long the batteries last once charged, and the impact of passenger numbers, the route profile and climate on the battery discharging and how long it takes to charge the batteries.
“The research will help us understand how the electric buses will perform in our local context, and what challenges we need to consider before we roll out the e-bus fleet in 2027. This information will assist us with planning and preparations, such as the training of the bus drivers, maintenance requirements, passenger loads, fault reporting and so forth,” notes Quintas.
According to the city, if all goes as planned, the first e-buses will start operating by 1 July 2027 between Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha, Wynberg and Claremont, as well as the Cape Town CBD.
“The acquisition of more electric buses remains a priority but will depend on the availability of budget from national government.”
Data published by GreenCape last year revealed that the cumulative market for electric buses is projected to reach 576 vehicles by 2030.
By the end of 2024, the cumulative electric bus market in SA stood at 156 vehicles, with a market value of R1.1 billion, according to GreenCape.
In Cape Town, Golden Arrow Bus Services has been testing electric buses since 2020. Last year, the public transport service officially launched its e-bus project, setting a target of increasing its electric fleet to 120 by the end of 2025.
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