A fleet of electric buses has been rolled out on Waiheke Island, making it the first suburb in Auckland to go electric.
The new buses will reduce carbon emissions by more than 500 tonnes a year.
That's equivalent to the amount of electricity used to power 718 homes.
Six new buses were unveiled today by Auckland Central and Green Party MP Chloe Swarbrick, with two more on the way next month.
Libby Ramsey, 12, had the honour of cutting the red ribbon as her winning artwork was chosen to decorate one of the buses.
Chloe Swarbrick with youth art competition supreme winner Libby Ramsey. Photo: Supplied
Fullers and Auckland Transport are behind the new venture in a bid for Waiheke to become entirely electric by 2030.
The buses can carry up to 37 passengers and rely on charging once a day to cover 300-400km.
With vehicles making up 40 percent of the city's emissions, Mayor Phil Goff was thrilled to be progressing on climate change goals.
"The goal that we're making a step towards today is dealing with emissions, and having a beautiful new clean emissions-free bus fleet on the island, that's truly something to celebrate."
Not only are they good for the environment, they're quiet too.
"Brett was telling me this morning that he was driving the bus and he pulled up and people were reading their papers, it was so quiet he had to tap on the window to say that he was there."
The nine remaining diesel buses on the island will be replaced as they reach the end of their life.
Photo: Supplied
Goff said while electric buses were more expensive, so was the diesel that needed to be shipped over for the old buses.
"The average electric bus would cost about $650,000 as against a diesel bus $400,000, but over the life of the bus because it's so much cheaper to run, actually it's economic to buy electric buses as well as being good for the environment."
He said his goal was to stop purchasing diesel buses by 2025, receiving praise from Chloe Swarbrick.
"If you did this in two years imagine what you can do in 10, the drive to get Waiheke to be entirely electric by 2030, the last stats I heard was the EV uptake on the island is now at 6 percent.
"So if you keep ticking towards that, we will get there in no time at all."
The construction of the buses is a collaboration between one of the world's largest global manufacturers in the UK, ADL and New Zealand-based energy technology company BYD.
Fullers chief executive Mike Horne said the partnership would reap benefits for the economy after Covid-19.
"They'll be licensing their buses to be built here in NZ and that will create new jobs and investment and this is new technology for NZ as well so it becomes very much an NZ inc collaboration. We're very pleased to have ADL in New Zealand."
Photo: Supplied
About 70 percent of Waiheke's visitors come from Auckland.
Auckland Transport chief executive Shane Ellison said plans were already in place for the next rollout.
"Next year we've got more rolling out between Pauanui and the airport; it's part of our ongoing journey to go to a low-emission bus road map by 2040."
He said recent trials over the years had ensured they would be a success.
"Seeing how they operate in different conditions around Auckland and that's really led us to where we are today they've gone fantastically well up until this point and gives us confidence that these buses are fit for service for Auckland."
