Bustech

Bustech was founded by the proprietors of Surfside Buslines, Joe and Tony Calabro, on the Gold Coast in 1995.[8] Buses were initially produced on Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Hino chassis with the first such vehicle completed in 1998 from their original Ernest, Queensland factory. In late 2003, Bustech began production of the VST model.[9] In October 2004 Bustech moved to a new factory in Calabro Way, West Burleigh.

Bustech became part of the Transit Australia Group in 2008 as part of a restructuring of the Calabro operations. In the same year, the company launched its first integral bus the 10.5 metre MDi. This was followed by the 12.5 metre XDi, SDi school bus and in July 2011 by the 12.5 metre CDi double decker, the first double deck citybus built for Australian operation since 1973. In November 2009, Bustech completed its 1000th bus.[10]

In July 2015, in collaboration with Swinburne University of Technology, the Automotive Cooperative Research Centre (AutoCRC) and the Malaysian Automotive Institute, Bustech unveiled its first electric bus to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia, known as the ZDi. Bustech has already signed a AUD$170 million contract to manufacture electric buses for the Malaysian government in late 2014.[11][12][13] with the first electric prototype bus delivered to Malaysia in 2015 branded as the XDi-E. In 2016, through the Transit Australia Group, Bustech signed a deal with Dubai South to provide electric buses.[14] One ZDi bus was exported to Dubai for evaluation in 2017.

Bustech was not included in the April 2019 purchase of the Transit Australia Group by the AATS Group (now Kinetic Group).[15] In September 2019, it was announced that Bustech will be merging with its joint venture partner Precision Buses, which is owned by Fusion Capital Holdings.[16] Both organisations will have a combined strategic management and direction under a new holding company called Australian Bus Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fusion. However, each of them will retain their own brand identities and continue to operate in their own capacity at their respective facilities. On 14 December 2020 it was announced that the group including Precision Buses and Elphinstone, had been rebranded as the Bustech Group.[17]

In June 2020, BusTech Group formed a partnership with Ebusco to produce the zero emission Ebusco 2.2 model and the next generation, carbon based Ebusco 3.0 model in Australia in a purpose built high tech facility.[18]

In August 2020, BusTech Group and Proterra announced a new collaboration to manufacture the all-electric ZDi 12.5m city bus utilizing Proterra’s battery technology platform.[19]

Most of the early buses from 1998 to 2000 were built for the Calabro's operations Surfside Buslines and other operators such as Clark's Logan City Bus Service and Whitsunday Transit in Queensland and Buslines Group, Oliveri's Metro-Link and King Brothers in New South Wales. Following the collapse of the Clifford Corporation, Bustech was successful in winning further orders from a variety of operators such as Sunbus and the Pulitano Group in Queensland and Connex, Forest Coachlines and Calabro family relation Busabout in New South Wales from 2000 to 2002.

• VST: 12.5m low-floor citybus body, in single and dual door configurations with a variety of seating options. The VST model commenced production in 2003 on a variety of chassis, including MAN 18.310/320 HOCL-NL, Mercedes-Benz O500LE, Scania K series K280UB, K310UB and K320UB, Volvo B12BLE, B7RLE and B8RLE.[20] A limited number of VST variants have been produced as the VSTM (11m low-floor citybus body on Scania chassis) and the VSTC (13m length), the VSTH (12.5 Volvo hybrid chassis). The VST has been in continual production from 2003 to the present, with more than 1,500 such examples produced. The model is found throughout Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania and the ACT including in government contracted operation.[21]
• SBV/SBM: 12.5m school / charter bus body with a single door and the option for underfloor luggage bins. Commenced production in 2006 branded as the Graduate. Built on a variety of chassis, including MAN 18.280, 19.320, Mercedes-Benz OH1830L, Scania K94IB and Volvo B7R and Volvo B8R. The naming SBM stands for School Bus MAN/Mercedes-Benz whilst SBV stands for School Bus Volvo[22]

• MDi: 10.5m, 43-seater low-floor city bus integral. Originally commencing production in 2007 with a Caterpillar C7 engine and ZF axles RL85A / A132 and gearbox.[23] Later engine choices included the Cummins ISB and ISL series engines.
• XDi: 12.5m, 55-seater (51 when spcified with centre-door) low-floor citybus integral. Originally produced from 2008 with a Caterpillar C7 engine and ZF axles RL85A / A132 and gearbox.[24] Later engine choices included the Cummins ISC, ISB and ISL series engines. . A single XDi-E (12.5m low-floor electric city bus integral) was produced in 2015 for export to Malaysia.
• CDi: 12.5m, 96-seater low-floor double-deck citybus integral with twin door and dual front steer. Produced from 2011 and available with Cummins ISL 9-litre engines and Allison or ZF gearboxes.
• ADi: 12.5m, 53-seater low-floor tour bus integral with underfloor luggage bins. Produced from 2012 with Cummins ISL 9-litre engines and Allison or ZF gearboxes.
• SDi: 12.5m, 61-seater school bus integral, with the option of underfloor bins. Produced from 2012 and available with Cummins ISL 9-litre engines and Allison or ZF gearboxes.

• ZDi: 12.5m, 41-seater low-floor city bus integral, with full electric propulsion. Produced from 2015 with ZF axles and Toshiba batteries. Three ZDi evaluation and test buses have been produced, with one exported for trialed in Dubai and the remaining two built for operation in Adelaide, however remaining under test as at 2020.