Australia's first locally made electric articulated bus to roll out in Perth

In a first for Australia, Transperth will introduce two locally made electric articulated 'bendy' buses to its fleet.

The buses are the first of their kind in Australia and are being built in Perth at Volgren's Malaga facility, with the first unveiled today.

The 18-metre buses are around six metres longer than a standard Transperth bus and can carry about 105 seated and standing passengers, compared to about 80 on a standard bus.

The two articulated buses will begin testing on routes in Perth's northern suburbs in the coming weeks and are expected to enter service around August, providing increased capacity for passengers on some of the network's busiest corridors.

The buses can recharge in approximately four hours and form part of Transperth's growing electric fleet, which includes more than 150 electric buses, with around 11 new electric buses entering service each month.

More than 100 local jobs, including 15 apprentices, are supported at Volgren's Malaga facility - with battery electric buses exclusively produced and delivered for public transport across Western Australia.

Transperth's diesel and Compressed Natural Gas bus fleet will gradually be phased out as they reach their end of service life.

The last diesel Transperth bus was manufactured more than a year ago, with every new addition to the Transperth fleet since being a locally built electric bus.

Shifting bus manufacturing to fully electric follows on from a $250 million program jointly funded by the Australian and West Australian Governments to deliver an initial 130 electric buses and associated infrastructure and bus depot upgrades.

Upgrades to accommodate EV charging infrastructure have already been completed at the Malaga depot and Elizabeth Quay Bus Station, with work underway on a new EV bus depot in Bayswater as well upgrades at the Karrinyup and Jandakot depots.