Case Studies Australia’s first pantograph-down bus charging depot
Brookvale Bus Depot is now home to Australia’s first pantograph-down EV charging system, supporting the transition of 229 diesel buses to battery electric. Powered by 13 × 450kW pantograph chargers and intelligent load management, the site enables fast, reliable charging to keep a large-scale fleet ready for daily operations.
JET Charge supported the project as a key supplier within the delivery team, providing charging equipment along with system integration and commissioning services. The project brought together partners including Keolis Australia (Depot Operator), Downer EDI Engineering (Principal Design and Construction Contractor), Custom Denning, Yutong and Foton (Bus OEMs), and Transport for NSW.
Electrifying 229 diesel buses at Brookvale meant working within a depot with limited space for traditional plug-in charging infrastructure.
Australia’s first pantograph-down system
To maximise available space and maintain efficient depot operations, the project required Australia’s first pantograph-down charging system, delivered without a local blueprint.
A complex site to manage
The depot also needed to manage a complex 5MVA grid connection with backup generation, support multiple bus OEMs, and operate with zero tolerance for charging downtime.
No margin for failure
At a depot where buses must be ready every morning, charging simply had to work.
As Australia’s first pantograph-down EV bus charging project, Brookvale introduced a new level of infrastructure and system integration complexity.
Full integration testing before deployment: With no local precedent for pantograph bus charging, the project required a comprehensive design and testing program to reduce delivery risk. A complete charging system was air freighted to Australia early in the project and installed at Custom Denning’s manufacturing site. This enabled full integration testing before deployment and helped avoid delays during construction.
Customised CORE Max load management: To protect the depot’s electrical infrastructure and maintain reliability, the CORE Max load management system was customised with a newly developed I/O expander. This allows the system to monitor four high-voltage protection devices in real time and dynamically adjust charging loads. The result is safe operation while maximising the available power for bus charging.
Designed for 99.9% uptime: Reliability was critical for a depot where buses must be ready every morning. The charging system is designed for 99.9% uptime, supported by the CORE Max energy management system. An in-house testing lab enabled simulation and refinement before deployment, while Illuminate provides ongoing monitoring and performance visibility to support rapid maintenance response across the life of the project.
Australia’s first operational pantograph-down depot: Brookvale is now Australia’s first fully operational pantograph-down charging depot, built to support more than 200 zero-emission buses. With 13 pantograph units now live and intelligently managed through the site’s load management system, buses can charge quickly, reliably and automatically at scale.
A scalable model for future electrification: The project supports Transport for NSW’s Zero Emission Bus Transition Plan while providing Keolis and Downer with a proven and scalable model for future depot electrification. Early integration with bus OEMs ensures the system meets the operational demands of a live depot while supporting long-term electrification goals.
With monitoring in place and maintenance support to follow, Brookvale is now a future-ready depot, setting a new benchmark for electric bus infrastructure in Australia.
“JET Charge working with Downer EDI has proven to be a world-class partnership, providing exceptional knowledge and capability to deliver a first-of-kind bus depot electrification conversion.”
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