The Adelaide City Council is using the first ever 100% solar powered bus. The electric bus has already done 55 000km’s since February when it was first used. The free bus is called ‘Tindo’ which is an Aboriginal word for ‘sun.’

Manufactured by Designline International, the bus features a regenerative braking system (saving up to 30% energy consumption), air conditioning, free wireless internet, can carry up to 40 passengers and is carbon neutral. The bus has 11 Zebra battery modules installed which allows it to go 200kms between recharges. With the bus’s quick recharge feature, 1 minute of recharge allows for 1km of travel. The system is said to be long lasting and low maintenance.

The bus is recharged by the city’s largest grid connected system atop the Adelaide Central Bus Station. Funding was provided by the Australian’s Governments ‘Adelaide Solar City Program’ together with funds from the City Council. The bus will save the Council 14 000lts of diesel and over 70 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in its first year alone.

The bus has an onboard ‘vehicle management system’ (VMS) which basically controls everything. It will report faults and makes sure everything is operating as desired. If any component should not work properly it will adjust the bus’s operation to compensate. The drivers console has a display panel showing information from the VMS.

Australia has great solar potential and our States are definitely starting to see that and use it to lead the world to a cleaner, greener future. This is yet another example of a world first in solar technology which has started in Australia.