“We have several different businesses, including Hygen, which is involved in hydrogen fuel cell generation, RYZE which delivers total solutions for low carbon energy. which is a turnkey solution for converting ICE buses to green energy.
“Then obviously then Wrightbus, is manufacturing side of the business,” said Gurney.
“We’ll bring in Wrightbus chassis and bare bones body kit and our intention is to develop local supply chain for obviously labour hours, for sub-component supply suppliers, and tap into the existing bus industry supply chain, which will include existing suppliers windows, stanchions, and air conditioning systems, electronic destination signs, passenger transport information, vinyl flooring, seats etc., so that we can actually develop a local content and input,” Gurney told us
“So it’ll come in as a chassis and there’ll just be a bare bones body kitand then that’ll be fully assembled locally and as I said, there’ll be as much local supply chain used as we can, so that we can develop local jobs and enhance the local supply chain because there’s so many great local suppliers in Australia,” he added.
Gurney says there is a lot of interest in Wrightbus from around the Asia Pacific, in places like Hong Kong where it has already scored a 20 bus order and in Singapore where it is developing a three-door double-decker for the Island State’s LTA.
” That would be amazing because I think a three-door double-decker in Australia would be incredible because it obviously helps with the speed of entry and egress,” he added.,
With a smile Gurney said he could a three-door double-decker coming down from Brookvale or from down the Northern Beaches in Sydney on the BLine run or running down the M2 with CDC.
“Both of those currently run diesel double-deckers but we could help them transition to zero-emission vehicles, and that’sgot to happen soon,” he said.
Gurney who spend many years running Scania’s bus operation in Australia, said he knows none of this is going to happen overnight and that it’s going to have to be a process.
“Obviously, we need to be able to build up our capability, and we also know how important it is to have after-sales support, so we’ll be establishing our service and after-sales business here in Australia as well, so we plan steady organic growth, so that it’s not a boom and bust mentality,” Gurney said.
The local Wright Bus operation has actually been running of the past 18 months., with Gurney joining after leaving Scania, while Castro is nine months in to his tenure with the company.
Asked about how much potential he sees in the Wrightbus repowering business Gurney was cautious about making any bold claims.
Look, it’s a bit of a hard one in Australia because obviously the vehicles that are in service are contracted for their 20 or 25 year lifetime,” he said.
“But the reason for the option is that if we get a bus that’s circa 12 years old, you know, coming in for a midlife refurbishment, if the governments really wanted to accelerate the transition to zero emission public transport at a reduced capital cost, then converting them is a good way to go about it,” Gurney said.
“Typically you’ll get eight to 10 years out of batteries, so if a bus that’s contracted for 20 years comes in between 10 to 12 years old for a midlife engine, gearbox refresh, then you could actually have it as a zero emission vehicle for the balance of its contract,” he added.
With Gurney’s obvious enthusiasm he told us that at this point in time the prospects in Australia are good.
“Look, the market’s transitioning, there’s, 600 to 700 city buses sold and delivered in Australia, so f we were to get say a 20 per cent market share, that would keep us ticking over very nicely every year,” he said.
