Expressions of Interest - Electric buses for sale!

[jonescg]

Hi all,

Melbourne manufacturing firm AVASS have seen a change of direction in their business activities and are moving away from building electric busses. AEVA members were able to take advantage of a special deal on LiFePO4 cells which are now being installed around the country as home storage units.

Well now they are selling three of their electric buses! They have two 12.5 m city buses and one 12.5 m touring coach. Details about the buses can be found here: http://avass.com.au/avass-products I understand the range on these buses is about 200 to 300 km, but we'll know more soon.

Prices and other details will be released when they are confident of a viable buyer for each or all of the buses. Used diesel buses in this realm sell for about $40,000 so expect a one-off battery bus to sell for about the same.

Any GENUINE expressions of interest, please contact Jason Richardson: jrichardson@avassgroup.com to lodge your EOI, and tell him that AEVA sent you

Cheers,
Chris

[HeadsUp]

i see no mention of whats for sale on their website .

are the batteries available or already sold ?

[jonescg]

That's because they are just seeking an expression of interest. The buses on offer are described on the website, but no idea about pricing at this stage.
No, none of the battery cells are available anymore.

[jonescg]

Just got some more information from Jason at AVASS.

There are three buses and two DC fast chargers, so whoever buys the two city buses would probably do well to get one charger. Like perhaps, the City of Hobart might like to have a charger at base while the other bus is in circulation?

The other issue is that the buses were never taken over the pits, so the still need to have their ADR compliance done. It shouldn't be an issue, just another step between buying them and getting them on the road. They have been driving them on trade plates all this time.

I still think it would be an awesome opportunity!

[T1 Terry]

I dropped Richard an email about a tour coach, no idea if they actually have one they are flogging off but it doesn't harm to ask eh. An all electric motorhome conversion would be something very 21st century

T1 Terry

[jonescg]

OK so I had a chat with Jason on the phone this morning.

The two city buses are very close to having their compliance plate fitted, but there's a few hoops to jump through just yet.
The touring coach (by all accounts the nicer bus to drive and ride in) is a direct Chinese import, so it needs many more hoops to get over the pits - potentially a roll-over test

There are two DC fast chargers and three buses. One of the chargers has a quirk where it decides it's done after 30-40 mins. The manufacturer still can't work out what the problem is. The other charger works just fine. Both chargers are using the Chinese NDQ-9Z DC fast charging standard - not CHAdeMo or CCS. So this is a back-to-base type bus.

Whoever buys them will need to follow up with the hoops of getting it licensed. They will assist where they can, but ultimately like the battery cells, they 'want it gone'.

Ideally an institution would buy them, like a city council, a university or a small territory administration's public transport department.

They will sell all three buses and the two fast chargers for $250,000.

I will try and get these details out as widely as we can, but an institution or company would do well to incorporate these into their operations.

[jonescg]

Bump!
Jason is keen to move these buses on, and the price of $250,000 for all three buses and two DC fast chargers is negotiable.
Any tour operators? Coach lines of interest?

[acmotor]

Just considering the worst case scenario here.

Most vehicles can end up with a special licence in Australia if they were able to be licensed in other countries.
The process may cost many thousands of dollars to work through.
It may be though that the special licence will exclude them from public use and fee paying passengers making it a downer for any commercial operation.

Having driven them around on dealer plates may have been a breech of the conditions of dealer plates. Dealer plates apply to mass produced, type approved vehicles that are already fitted with ADR compliance plates.

There is no warranty or ongoing manufacturer support I expect.

Is there a full suite of specifications, schematics, software and comms protocol listings available ?

Finding a passionate supporter at maybe the RAC WA and offering AEVA support to keep the buses technically on the road could work. However you may end up with show and tell buses only that are not able to be generally used.

Sorry to be negative, but in my thinking, these buses are worth $1 each.

Having said that, I would pay $10,000 for one, delivered to my door, only because I am an enthusiast and believer in EVs. (and not thinking it through !)

I do wish for a happy home for these buses. Remember the Hydrogen buses in Perth ? They could have gone out to pasture too.

[jonescg]

From Jason:

"Hey Chris,

Avass will be able to supply the buyer with a mountain of technical information on these buses, but as for complete manuals not in the form of a Gregory book.

Parts are available & Avass will be supplying some spare parts with the purchase of the buses.

The fast chargers will need to be wired to a 3-phase 100 amp output.

Cheers Jason"