It’s very pleasing to see the ACT Government’s recent announcement to invest $26m in electricity infrastructure supporting electric vehicle charging at the Woden and Tuggeranong depots.
For the technically minded, this work involves augmentation of Evoenergy’s electrical distribution network by connecting two bus depots, via two new 11 kV dedicated underground high voltage cables from Evoenergy’s Wanniassa Zone substation, to help manage maximum demand of up to 12.2MVA at Tuggeranong and 5.1MVA at Woden.
In practice, this means the Tuggeranong and Woden (when it opens in 2024) depots will be able to support charging for up to 300 vehicles. This isn’t the whole fleet (approx 450 buses), let alone accommodate future growth, but it’s an important behind-the-scenes milestone in electrifying the fleet.
There’s still a lot more that needs to happen, including:
- similar works at the Belconnen depot
- the construction of a 4th and 5th depot, as outlined in Transport Canberra’s Zero-Emission Transition Plan
Hopefully there’s a lot more to come!