TWELVE new electric buses will roll out onto Canberra’s roads later this year, the ACT government has announced today (February 22).

Eight of the electric buses will be built by Yutong in China and four by Custom Denning in Australia.

A further 90 electric buses will also join the ACTION fleet in a further procurement process.

By 2040, the ACT government hopes that every bus on Canberra’s roads will be electric.

“The first 12 battery electric buses combined with the purchase of a further 90 electric buses puts us well on the road to transition to a fully electric bus fleet by 2040 or earlier,” said Minister for Transport and City Services Chris Steel.

“We set out to lease and to put into operation eight battery electric buses by the end of the year but instead we’re leasing 12 and we’re in the process of buying a further 90.”

Mr Steel said the ACT Government is also in negotiations with Scania Australia for the short term lease of 26 low-emission buses, to phase out the remaining 34 “inaccessible” and “polluting” Renault buses in it’s fleet this year.

“These will be replaced with the purchase of electric buses,” Mr Steel said.

Transport is the ACT’s single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 57% of total emissions in 2019­–20.