With varied products on its stand, Scania Australia signalled its zero-emissions intentions.
Scania Australia decided to bring a wide range of its international EV products to the Expo. With its latest bus technology standing side-by-side with trucks, chassis and e-machines, Scania went well beyond the bus. Scania Australia bus and engine sales director Julian Gurney says the brand decided to showcase its entire e-mobility potential.
“We purposely put forward our global product portfolio when it comes to battery electric vehicles,” Gurney told ABC. “This includes an e-machine designed for marine applications and its battery packs.
“We also brought our very first battery electric truck in Australia to join our low-floor chassis and our premium coach product.”
The 4×2 battery electric truck gave the industry an idea of what Scania’s full EV range looks like, with the dash and interior being shared between trucks, buses and coaches.
In a bid to honour loyal customers, Scania Australia chose to showcase its diesel Euro 6 coach that it will soon deliver to Victorian operator Dyson Group. In the midst of a special anniversary, Gurney says Scania wanted to use the coach as a way of congratulating its customer.
“Dyson Group is currently celebrating its 70th anniversary,” Gurney says. “To celebrate the milestone, we presented co-managing director Neil Dyson with a commemorative Waterford crystal dish and brought two Dyson vehicles to the Expo. One is a Volgren body low floor Euro 6 city bus, the other a coach.”
Next to the Dyson Group vehicle sat a Scania low floor EV chassis. Gurney says the chassis is a fully low floor product, meaning passengers will be able to walk the whole way through the bus on a flat floor rather than having to take steps up to the back end of the bus.
The chassis comes courtesy of the Department of Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) in South Australia. Scania is working with South Australian bodybuilder Bustech Group, who is the contracted bodybuilder for the contract, to produce the fleet of EV buses.
Following in the theme of Scania’s display at the last Expo in 2019, Scania once again commissioned an artist to come to Scania’s stall and create a painting to match the occasion.
The painting recognised the relationship Scania had forged with the SA DIT and acknowledged the department for allowing Scania to show the chassis. Over the two-day Expo, the artist painted Scania’s new articulated vehicle as it travelled through the Adelaide Hills. Surrounding it were South Australian landmarks like the Adelaide Oval scoreboard and the state’s famous vineyards.
Scania also brought a biodiesel fuel source genset to signal its future intentions. Gurney says Scania Australia wants to lead forays into sustainable transport globally, including using unique fuel sources to remain as environmentally friendly as possible.
“We are on a huge mission to be the leaders in sustainable transport,” Gurney says. “Our Expo stall shows our commitment to our core value of leading sustainability. There’s a huge push for us to meet customer expectations around vehicle uptime while we transition to this new technology.”