On the 26 June 2019, CDC Victoria celebrated our Official Hybrid Bus Launch at Wyndham depot in Melbourne. We were privileged to have the Minister for Public Transport/ State member for Williamstown – the Hon. Melissa Horne MP as our guest of honour. We also hosted the local member for Tarneit – Sarah Connolly, Deputy Mayor of Wyndham, Walter Villagonzalo and over 80 distinguished guests, partners and staff from CDC Victoria.
The festivities kicked off with speeches by our CEO, Nicholas Yap, the Minister for Public Transport/ State member for Williamstown – the Hon. Melissa Horne MP and Vice President of Volvo Buses Asia Pacific, David Mead. Guests were treated to a special animation video that illustrates the area of coverage that our new fleet of hybrids will cover by 2022. A total of 30 hybrid buses were on show at Wyndham depot in commemoration of the event.
Guests were also able to view an actual Volvo hybrid chassis in buggy form – a first for most guests who are used to seeing buses in finished form.
The star of the show however was a Hybrid video (made in conjunction with Volgren) showing the journey from body manufacturer Volgren’s premises in Dandenong to Wyndham depot.
Guests were ushered on to 4 hybrid buses in order to experience first-hand the benefits of travelling on the hybrids – which have only been in service since April this year. It was great to see so many people asking questions and learning about the differences between conventional diesel and hybrid buses from the Volvo Green Ambassadors on our special bus tours at the event.
The new buses
The new, environmentally friendly fleet, which represents the biggest single order of hybrid buses in Australia demonstrates CDC’s strong focus on sustainability and innovation in its business operations.
Each bus also directly supports the local automotive industry in Victoria with body manufacturing and fit-out being carried out by Volgren in Dandenong. All 50 low-floor buses feature Volvo’s Parallel Hybrid driveline and meet Euro 6 emission standards. In testing, the Volvo hybrid driveline has been shown to reduce nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions by up to 50%, as well as reducing fuel and carbon dioxide emissions by up to 40%.
The introduction of these fleet vehicles follows successful trials across Victoria which found that these Hybrid vehicles use 30 per cent less fuel and significantly reduce noise during idling and when departing stops.
All 50 buses in the hybrid fleet will be in service on CDC routes in Wyndham, Oakleigh and Sunshine by mid-2022.
A special thank you to everyone who took time out to celebrate this milestone with us. We were thrilled to have you with us and we look forward to many more innovations to come.
