Nowra electric bus factory tops out as Foton facility moves towards first phase completion

Topping out milestone at South Nowra

Foton Mobility Distribution's new manufacturing and assembly facility on Oxford Street in South Nowra has reached its full structural height, according to local reporting by 2ST. Construction began in April 2026, and the building has now topped out, with work continuing towards completion of the first phase of the development. ³

The 6,000-square-metre facility will become the company's flagship manufacturing and assembly operation, with capacity to produce up to 400 electric buses a year when operating at full production, 2ST reports. Once the first phase is complete, the operation is expected to employ nearly 130 people, with Foton aiming to recruit its entire workforce from the Nowra region. ³

Foton Mobility Distribution CEO Neil Wang told 2ST that reaching full height was another step towards having buses move through the facility, describing the project as establishing a long-term manufacturing capability in Nowra. "We still have work ahead of us, but topping out the building is a milestone worth recognising," he said. ³

2ST reported that Mr Wang, who has lived in the Illawarra region since 2006, described the project as holding particular personal significance, saying the Illawarra and South Coast had been home to him for two decades. ³

Construction start and phased build plan

Construction formally commenced on 21 April 2026, when the NSW Government announced the first sod had been turned on the 6,000-square-metre Foton facility. The ministerial release said the project would allow Foton to scale up to 127 workers, from 19 at its current temporary facility, with construction delivered in three phases: a new manufacturing shed in the third quarter of 2026, followed by a pre-delivery shed and office space expected in 2027. ¹⁴

At the time of the construction start, the NSW Government said the next round of recruitment for 27 positions was expected to be advertised in June 2026, including leading hands, assembly workers, electricians, a production line engineer, quality control engineers, payroll and office admin. Those workers were due to start when the first phase of the facility was completed in the third quarter of 2026. ¹

The NSW Government release said Foton was already using six local suppliers: John K Engineering, Lee Sandstrom for auto electrical, Mark Burton for quality assurance, Nowra Signs, Total Tools, and Multiparas Unanderra for components. Wave FM's reporting on the construction start separately noted the project's role in supporting local suppliers, naming Multiparas Unanderra among them. ¹⁴

The NSW Zero Emission Bus contract

Foton Mobility Distribution has been selected to supply 126 battery-electric buses as part of the NSW Government's Zero Emission Bus Program, according to 2ST. The contract was announced on 30 January 2025, when then transport minister Jo Haylen visited Nowra to confirm the state government had awarded Foton a contract to deliver 126 electric buses built in Nowra to service bus routes across Greater Sydney, as reported by the South Coast Register. ³⁵²

The 30 January 2025 ministerial release said the contract followed the NSW Government's Zero Emission Buses program, which is also converting 11 existing Greater Sydney bus depots to battery-electric technology, building a new battery-electric depot at Macquarie Park and procuring around 1,200 new electric buses by 2028. The then transport minister said the program had been structured to build NSW bus manufacturing capacity for the long term. ²⁵

The order size is not consistently stated across official sources. NSW Government releases from April 2026 describe Foton as delivering an order for 128 buses under the Transport for NSW Zero Emissions Bus program, while the January 2025 announcement and later reporting refer to 126 buses. DriveAgent has preserved both figures as stated; no later correction resolving the difference appears in the available record. ¹⁴²³

Twenty-five Foton buses were already in service at the Bradbury depot in Western Sydney at the time of the April 2026 announcement, with more expected to enter service from the Brookvale depot on the Northern Beaches, according to the NSW Government release. ¹

From assembly towards full manufacture, and hydrogen ambitions

When the contract was announced, Foton owner Neil Wang told the South Coast Register that the facility, when fully operational, would be able to produce 400 buses a year. The company also flagged plans to build electric trucks at the site and to become what it described as Australia's first manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cells, assembling imported components into hydrogen fuel cells at the Oxford Street site. ⁵

The then transport minister told the South Coast Register the government aimed to have 50 per cent of bus components made locally by 2027, acknowledging that components such as batteries and electric motors were not currently made in Australia and had to be imported. Foton's general manager aftersales, Ross Thompson, said the business was importing technology to make bus shells out of carbon fibre and would train people to manufacture and repair carbon fibre bodies. ⁵

Foton was also working with TAFE NSW to develop two courses covering hydrogen fuel cell vehicle fundamentals and the Foton FDH-12 hydrogen-powered bus, and sponsoring a PhD through the CSIRO to design hydrogen fuel cells for agricultural equipment, the South Coast Register reported. ⁵

The build-from-the-ground-up ambition is a longer-term goal rather than current capability. At the January 2025 announcement, Kiama MP Gareth Ward criticised the project, arguing the buses would be assembled rather than manufactured in the region, contrasting the arrangement with local steel content on Princes Highway projects and questioning why NSW-based bus maker Custom Denning had not been engaged. That criticism remains a documented political dispute, not a settled assessment of the plant's eventual capability. ⁵¹

Background: the wider program and regional context

Foton already had seven hydrogen-powered buses and a range of electric buses operating in Australia at the time of the January 2025 announcement, according to the South Coast Register, including a bus owned by South Coast operator Premier Transport Group. Premier's director John King, who the Register reports was the first to bring an electric bus to Australia in 2018, running between Kiama and Nowra, said his buses ran about 17 hours a day and returned with 30 per cent charge, and could communicate with stops about arrival times and seat availability. ⁵

The NSW Government has framed the Nowra project as part of a broader effort to rebuild local bus manufacturing, with further orders planned for Sydney, outer-metropolitan and regional NSW. Then transport minister Jo Haylen told the South Coast Register that some future Zero Emission Bus program buses could be built in Nowra, Newcastle or western Sydney under a published pipeline of bus orders. ²⁵

At the construction start, NSW ministers described the project as private investment responding to electrification and a commitment to restore domestic manufacturing, while local members said the facility would create more than 100 jobs and training opportunities on the South Coast. ¹