Four CD Element 2s (748-751)

[Barry Drive]

Custom Denning have confirmed that they will be supplying four "Element 2" buses for Belconnen Depot.

First bus to be delivered by late September, with all in service by November.

https://www.custombus.com.au/post/transport-canberra-signs-new-custom-denning-contract

No information yet on whether these are leased, or how long the lease period will be.

[743]

https://www.transport.act.gov.au/news/news-and-events-items/september-2023/electric-vehicle-day

Of note - Belconnen's 4 electrics now due December this year.

[Barry Drive]

Of note - Belconnen's 4 electrics now due December this year.

We may not have any news about the buses, but there has recently been a contract (awarded to Simeco Electrical) to install the infrastructure at Belconnen Depot to support the two bus chargers.

Contract end date is 14 December 2023.

[Barry Drive]

The first Element 2 arrived yesterday. As noted in the title, its fleet number is 748.

Will probably spend the next month solely performing training and familiarisation until the second bus arrives.

[Peter Bakos]

Canberra's newest bus model was unveiled today, the Custom Denning. The first example is Bus 748.
https://www.act.gov.au/our-canberra/latest-news/2023/october/more-electric-buses-start-zapping-into-canberra

[triumph]

There is a 'whisper' that there was an incident affecting 748 during delivery to Canberra, which later resulted in a brief return of 748 for repair/rectification. Confirmation?

[triumph]

We may not have any news about the buses, but there has recently been a contract (awarded to Simeco Electrical) to install the infrastructure at Belconnen Depot to support the two bus chargers.

Contract end date is 14 December 2023.

Any news on progress? Presumably the 4 Elements cannot enter service until this work is completed.

Also, the duty of connecting buses to chargers has apparently become the preserve of refuellers. Seems logical. Probably obviates 'Sorry, mate, I forgot' events with drivers parking the bus as normal and going off shift.
However, are there issues with refuellers needing to be on duty late each evening to plug the buses in? Or does this fall within normal refuelling duty periods?

It is necessary both environmentally and to support Government publicity, that the whole electric fleet is utilised to the maximum, and thus details like support personnel duty times are arranged to support that.

[triumph]

Interesting detail. BUS748 is pictured in today's Riotact displaying what appears (partially hidden by bike rack) a BUS748 registration plate, but an ACT Rego check indicated that there was no registration record.

[Barry Drive]

That photo was from the Media event to announce 748's arrival.

Can't locate the reference right now, but Minister Steel has stated all 4 Elements will be in service by the end of this year - so that has to be accurate.

As for the chargers: they were also featured at the Media event. From what can be seen, they have been installed.

[triumph]

That photo was from the Media event to announce 748's arrival.

Can't locate the reference right now, but Minister Steel has stated all 4 Elements will be in service by the end of this year - so that has to be accurate.

As for the chargers: they were also featured at the Media Event. From what can be seen, they have been installed.

So the Media Event was at Belconnen then. The image in TC News showed a charger with two connectors looking as if they had been in use. So I had taken this to be at the Tuggeranong Depot. Even if visibly appearing complete, the actual electrical cabling and power supply integration from the grid at Belconnen cannot be visually determined from the image as complete.

The number plate issue is now even more interesting. It was visible in the TC image. How was this bus moved to Belconnen displaying plates not yet registered? Transported?  Movement permit? Plate temporarily authorised as Trade plate? Issued prior to registration! 

[triumph]

Can't locate the reference right now, but Minister Steel has stated all 4 Elements will be in service by the end of this year - so that has to be accurate.

School goes back on Monday. if it is intended that these 4 buses enter service on or before that, then TC is cutting it fine - only 3 week-days left.

Pre-requisites mentioned in posts were driver and staff training, completion ( including turning on) of the new Belconnen Depot chargers, and resolution of any industrial issues concerning routine charging. Does the training involve on the road training? If so, it is most unlikely that service entry is imminent, as they are not even registered yet.

Looks like the Renaults will be soldiering on for quite a while yet. The on-line TT for school term services from next Monday supports this, as various non-accessible services continue to be shown.

[Snorzac]

I think at this stage it is potentially a wider issue with the CD Element II as a whole rather than anything directly related to TC, haven't heard of any operators putting the element II into service as of yet despite many deliveries 

[Barry Drive]

I think at this stage it is potentially a wider issue with the CD Element II as a whole rather than anything directly related to TC, haven't heard of any operators putting the element II into service as of yet despite many deliveries

Based on delivery data, so far Custom Denning have delivered these Element 2s - 4 to Transport Canberra, 4 to Metro Tasmania and 7 to Transport for NSW.

There are no records of any of these being registered yet. Four of the 7 NSW buses were delivered at the same time as ours, so it's not related to when they were delivered.

(ACT Legislative Assembly resumes on 6 February 2024. It is likely Chris Steel will deliver another update regarding the supply of buses on that day or soon afterwards.)

UPDATE: the 4 Tasmania Elements have been registered and will soon commence service in Launceston.

[Barry Drive]

UPDATE: the 4 Tasmania Elements have been registered and will soon commence service in Launceston.

Further update: the 4 Elements did enter service in Launceston, but have now been taken off the road due to "software issues'.

[triumph]

The 4 Launceston buses are on a 2 year trial and are equipped with telematics to aid data gathering for the trial. Be interesting to know if the 'software issues' are with the buses proper or the telematics.
 
Also Metro Tas is trialling 3 fuel cell buses in Hobart with a view to comparing the different technologies.
Whilst TC is getting on with it in regard to Yutongs, Metro Tas seems to be going about it a more measured way.

The interesting question is whether the issues with the TC Elements are related to the Metro Tas Launceston experiences.

At a recent public meeting a question was asked about the TC Elements and drew a rather vague reply from a Govt representative about commissioning and training. As they are not yet registered one might wonder about the progress of 'training'. I got the impression that service entry was still some time off. So 4 of the Renaults will not be retiring as soon as thought.
 

[triumph]

As these buses are yet to enter service, and several MyWay+ demo buses are expected, it might be reasonably speculated that the demo buses will be CD Element 2s.

[Snorzac]

I don't think the demo buses will be anything other than retired PR100.2...I could be wrong 

The Elements are clearly troubled, all fit out work for new buses is traditionally done at Belconnen and the fact these four buses are still at Tuggeranong after multiple trips to presumably Sydney tells me they're still not correct and ready to go. 

Launceston has had a lot of difficulties with software in the element 2, so much so they were removed from service, my running theory is that nothing will happen with the TC element 2s until such a time Launceston have theirs back on the road and operating reliably. 

[Barry Drive]

And let's not forget there are 9 (or more) at Transit Systems in Sydney which are yet to be registered.

It does appear likely that they are waiting on a software(?) fix before officially accepting the buses and therefore registering them.

While the Elements may not be official trial buses for MyWay+, I have to wonder whether they will go to the trouble to fit the full MyWay/NXTBUS systems knowing that it has to be removed in ~6 months.

[triumph]

Amazed it has taken this long. The fact that the Elements are not yet in service has finally made the mainstream media. Article today in the on-line version of the Canberra Times.

[Barry Drive]

The article can be viewed at:

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8573493/electric-bus-was-ready-for-a-photo-op-but-not-canberras-streets/?cs=14329

A non paywall version can be read here:

https://www.printfriendly.com/p/g/qrFLe4

As expected, most of the comments are from people who are clueless about the facts, including claims that (A) there is a diesel generator to charge the batteries - which is entirely false and (B) they don't have sufficient capacity to charge them - also false.

As has been mentioned here, the delays are entirely due to the buses not passing whatever testing has been performed by TC at the depot, and requiring a possible software update.

As one person mentioned in the comments, the Launceston buses have an ongoing software problem (although the number of buses there is 4, not 3). This was public information that should have been in the original article, as is the fact that the 9 Sydney Element buses are also not in service.

From my reading of the contract, lease payments only commence after the buses have been "accepted". Given none are yet registered, I presume they haven't been accepted so no money has been outlayed, except to install the chargers at Belconnen. (ACT Government publishes its expenditure, so that should also not be too hard for a journalist to determine.)

About the only useful detail in the article is from an unnamed ACT spokeswoman who said the four buses would enter service in the coming weeks. We'll soon see how accurate that is.

[triumph]

Was a diesel generator acquired at all? If not are the Depots already equipped? It seems necessary to have substantial diesel generation (or a very large battery)  standby to cover the consequences of a bad power outage.

[Barry Drive]

There has been no recent contract awarded for supply of a diesel generator. The comment referred to 200K which just happens to be what it cost to install the ABB chargers at each depot.

While a power outage will prevent all buses from being recharged or refuelled, from a risk management perspective the likelihood of a long term outage is low. I believe their contingency plan in the event of a planned outage is to hire a generator from Kennards (or similar).

Edit to add: I did a quick check of the ACT data portal - I couldn't find any payments to Custom Denning for the Elements. However, the reportable threshold is $25000, so the monthly lease payments may be less than that anyway.

[Barry Drive]

See also this question and answer in the Legislative Assembly from last year regarding diesel generators:

https://questions.parliament.act.gov.au/details/41938d56c16c4ed6930fd246cb4bbc9d