The City of Cape Town’s Urban Mobility Directorate will take delivery of its first electric bus in August 2026, with another 13 e-buses to arrive between October and December this year. The City intends to roll-out the electric bus fleet along the MyCiTi routes that operate in the metro-south east, including the new routes that will form part of Phase 2A.
All-in-all, the City will take delivery of 30 low-floor electric buses between August 2026 and June 2027.
The first bus will arrive in August at the latest, if all goes as planned, and another 13 by December 2026, and the balance thereafter. These are 12-metre Volvo BZRLE electric buses and the first where the bus bodies are manufactured locally, in Johannesburg.
‘The delivery of the electric bus fleet cannot be more timeous, given the volatility of the energy markets and uncertain geopolitical environment. Apart from lowering our carbon emissions, an electric bus fleet could offer multiple other benefits, especially as far as maintenance and operational costs are concerned. Some countries operating e-buses have noted a reduction of up to 70% in operating costs and we will be conducting research soon to determine what type of savings Cape Town can look forward to,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee for Urban Mobility, Councillor Rob Quintas.
The City, together with the University of Cape Town, will in coming months undertake research to test and understand how electric buses will operate as part of the City’s MyCiTi bus fleet. The electric bus (e-bus) research is funded by the City of Cape Town and through a grant from the Urban Electric Mobility Initiative (UEMI).
The e-buses will be tested on existing MyCiTi routes for a period of about 12 months to determine how the buses perform on different route profiles; how long the batteries last once charged; and the impact of passenger numbers, the route profile and climate on the battery discharging; how long it takes to charge the batteries; and so forth.
‘The research will help us understand how the electric buses will perform in our local context, and what challenges we need to consider before we roll-out the e-bus fleet in 2027. This information will assist us with planning and preparations, such as the training of the bus drivers, maintenance requirements, passenger loads, fault reporting, and so forth,’ said Councillor Quintas.
If all goes as planned, the first e-buses will start operating by 1 July 2027 between Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha, Wynberg and Claremont, as well as the Cape Town CBD.
The acquisition of more electric buses remains a priority, but will depend on the availability of budget from the National Government.
