The South Coast is set to become a new manufacturing hub for the next generation of public transport with the creation of a brand-new electric bus manufacturing facility in Nowra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australian owned bus manufacturer Foton Mobility Distribution is set to build a 6,000 square metre manufacturing facility in South Nowra from late 2025, subject to council approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This follows the Minns Labor Government awarding a contract to Foton to deliver 126 battery electric buses that will be built in Nowra and service bus routes across Greater Sydney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The facility will also produce battery electric trucks, as well as hydrogen fuel cell engines, creating around 100 ongoing quality, skilled manufacturing jobs for local workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Foton\u2019s bus contract was one of the first bus orders made through the NSW Government\u2019s Zero Emission Buses (ZEB) program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This program is also converting 11 existing bus depots in Greater Sydney to battery electric technology, building a new battery electric depot at Macquarie Park and procuring around 1,200 new electric buses by 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Transport for NSW is delivering the ZEB program in stages in close consultation with industry, including manufacturers, to provide an opportunity to increase capability and capacity supported by a published pipeline of bus orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the domestic manufacturing sector can\u2019t be rebuilt overnight \u2013 facilities like this are the first step towards building things here in NSW again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This facility delivers on the NSW Government\u2019s commitment to domestic manufacturing, supporting local jobs and local industry to build the public transport our state needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This follows 12 years of offshoring by the former Liberal National Government, leading to NSW missing out on thousands of job opportunities and bringing lengthy delays and cost blowouts on major transport contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Premier Chris Minns said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe offshoring of public transport by the former government was a complete disaster, which is why we\u2019re building these buses here in NSW \u2013 creating local jobs and public transport that works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis state of the art facility in Nowra will create ongoing skilled jobs in regional NSW while also delivering emissions free world class public transport for the people of our state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWorkers across NSW are great at building public transport like these buses, and under our government they\u2019re building them here again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister for Transport Jo Haylen said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen the Minns Labor Government says we want to build more buses here, we mean it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOnce our partners at Foton get this plant up and running there will be an extra 100 quality manufacturing jobs right here. That\u2019s great news for Nowra and a big boost for NSW manufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want our local manufacturers and suppliers have good opportunities to get involved in building the Zero Emissions Buses that we need. That\u2019s why we have structured our zero-emissions bus program in a way that builds our bus manufacturing capacity for the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are at the beginning of our project to build the clean, green buses of the future. Transport for NSW announced the first battery electric bus orders under the Zero Emissions Bus program for Greater Sydney in December 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere will be many more orders to come for Sydney, Outer Metropolitan and Regional NSW and many good quality, skilled manufacturing jobs that will be created thanks to the Minns Labor Government\u2019s support for building our buses, trains and ferries right here in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister for Domestic Manufacturing and Government Procurement Courtney Houssos said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis new facility shows the high-quality products that NSW workers and businesses can deliver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe previous government sent contracts like this offshore, costing NSW thousands of jobs and billions of dollars. We are choosing to support local jobs and local businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBy leveraging the power of government contracts like this, we can rebuild local industries, support local workers and grow the NSW economy, particularly in regional communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is an important milestone as we deliver on our pledge to bring domestic manufacturing back to NSW.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Member for South Coast Liza Butler said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Minns Government understands the importance of local jobs and skills training for regional communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe proposed new bus factory here in Nowra will provide fantastic employment opportunities for up to 100 people once fully operational and enable the re-skilling and upskilling of many workers who wish to be a part of the transition to zero emissions transport.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Member of the Legislative Council Sarah Kaine said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re building Australia\u2019s future right here in the South Coast and delivering good quality, local jobs in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a Labor Government that is investing back into its regional economies and ensuring equal opportunity for local manufacturing of our world-class transport system. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The South Coast is set to become a new manufacturing hub for the next generation of public transport with the creation of a brand-new electric bus manufacturing facility in Nowra. Australian owned bus manufacturer Foton Mobility Distribution is set to build a 6,000 square metre manufacturing facility in South Nowra from late 2025, subject to … Continue reading “The next generation of NSW Electric Buses will be built in Nowra”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31128"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31129,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31128\/revisions\/31129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}