The roar of diesel is being replaced by the hum of high-voltage innovation on Pittwater Road. As Australia’s bus industry accelerates towards electrification, Brookvale bus depot has become a proving ground for one of the most advanced charging systems deployed locally to date.
The site features a high-powered pantograph-down charging system, allowing buses to charge quickly and automatically without manual cable handling.
Delivered by Downer EDI Engineering and operated by Keolis Australia, the project brought together multiple partners, including bus manufacturers and specialist technology providers. JET Charge played a key role as a supplier, providing the charging equipment along with system integration and commissioning support, helping to ensure the technology could be safely and reliably integrated into a live depot environment.
With no prior pantograph-down deployments in Australia, much of the work involved establishing a practical pathway for integrating the technology into a live depot environment.
A key focus early on was reducing integration risk. To do this, a complete charging system was installed at Custom Denning’s facility in St Mary’s – one of three bus OEMs on the project. By doing this, engineers were able to test communication between the charger and vehicle well before the equipment arrived onsite. Using the OppCharge protocol, the team worked through differences in how the standard was implemented across systems, resolving issues that could otherwise have delayed commissioning.
This early testing phase proved critical. By validating performance ahead of time, the project team was able to avoid disruptions during installation and create a repeatable integration process for future bus suppliers expected to operate at the depot.
Integration more broadly remained a complex task. The pantograph chargers, electric buses and site-wide load management platform all needed to operate as a single, coordinated system. Achieving that required close collaboration between local teams and international partners, particularly when aligning software behaviour and ensuring consistent charging performance under varying conditions.
The site’s electrical infrastructure added another layer of complexity. Brookvale operates with dual 11kV feeders in an N-1 configuration, supported by a backup generator – creating a dynamic power environment where available capacity can shift in real time. In this context, managing load is not static; it requires constant adjustment.
- Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter to receive the latest news and classifieds from Australasia’s bus and coach industry
- Don’t miss a second and subscribe to our monthly ABC magazine
To manage this, JET Charge deployed the CORE Max load management system designed to respond to live network conditions. As part of this, the team developed a custom I/O expander for the CORE platform, allowing it to take in signals from four separate high-voltage protection devises, more than the standard requirement.
This gave CORE a clearer, real-time view of what was happening across the site’s electrical network, enabling it to adjust charging loads as conditions changed. This meant that the system could protect critical infrastructure without interrupting day-to-day operations.
Reliability was also a central consideration. In a working bus depot, there is little tolerance for downtime. To meet a 99.9 per cent uptime target, the system underwent extensive pre-deployment testing using in-house simulation environments before going live, allowing engineers to model different operating scenarios and refine performance before going live.
The result is a depot equipped with 13 pantograph charging units, supported by real time system intelligence and a high degree of automation. More broadly, Brookvale now provides a clear reference point for how large-scale, high-powered charging can be deployed in Australia.
As more operators move towards electrification, projects like this are helping to define what reliable, scalable depot infrastructure looks like in practice, demonstrating how the transition can be delivered without compromising day-to-day operations.
To learn more about the electrification of Brookvale bus depot, view the full case study here.
Read more:
- Ventura acquires another major Victorian operator
- Panorama Coaches acquires Jacobsons school service runs
- FlixBus announces NSW snow services
- Buses to replace trains amid Victorian level crossing works
- Victoria’s newest electric bus depot officially opens
