ECan introduced 17 new electric buses to the greater Christchurch network this week, bringing the total number of EVs to 65 and making its urban bus fleet 26 per cent emission-free.
ECan councillor Vicky Southworth said it is a well-timed arrival, as passenger trip numbers are up 25 per cent compared to the last financial year.
"Over a quarter of the greater Christchurch population used a MetroCard in the last year.
"So that's a huge part of our population.
"Nearly 14 and a half million passenger trips are completed within the greater Christchurch network."
Four of the buses arrived in January, while the remaining 17 arrived recently.
Ten of the new EVs were funded through the NZ Transport Agency's climate emergency response fund programme.
The new electric buses can travel about 400km between charges.
Each bus is expected to cover 300km over a typical day on the Metro network, mainly on local routes such as the Orbiter.
Kinetic New Zealand commercial director Nigel Piper said the company deployed additional charging infrastructure for the new EVs in Christchurch.
"They're very quiet, they're smooth, they're comfortable and, from a driver's perspective, they're really well set out, really well laid out so each evolution of these busses has just been an improvement upon improvement."
And Christchurch is set to be the first city in New Zealand to receive the latest electric double-decker bus. It is currently being built and trialled in China and is expected to arrive around the middle of next year.
ECan plans to continue phasing out its diesel buses, and says greater Christchurch was well on the way to having a fully zero-emission electric fleet by 2035.
- By Geoff Sloan, made with the support of NZ On Air
