How a Cape Town Company Plans to Slash 2.5 Million Litres from Its Annual Diesel Bill

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Every year, one South African company burns through a jaw-dropping 25 million litres of diesel to keep its fleet of buses on the road and now, it’s taking a bold step to cut that number by 10%, aiming to save 2.5 million litres annually.

The move isn’t just about going green or ticking a sustainability checkbox. It’s about financial survival in a volatile fuel market where diesel prices have climbed steadily over the past decade. With rising costs and mounting pressure not to pass those increases onto already cash-strapped commuters, the company has decided it’s time to future-proof its operations.

Their solution? Electric buses.

After years of planning, testing, and pilot runs, the company has started rolling out electric buses to replace a portion of its diesel-powered fleet. The goal is ambitious: to have over 100 electric buses operating in and around Cape Town by the end of 2025. With each diesel bus guzzling thousands of litres of fuel per year, the switch could reduce their diesel consumption by at least 2.5 million litres annually.

So, who’s behind this ambitious plan?

It’s Golden Arrow Bus Services, a Cape Town icon that’s been moving people for over 160 years. Originally launched in 1861 as a horse-drawn tram service, the company has transformed through every major transport shift: from electric trams in the late 1800s to buses that now crisscross over 1,300 routes, moving more than 200,000 people daily.

The company operates 1,171 buses, most of which are diesel-powered MAN units. These vehicles rack up nearly 60 million kilometres per year, making Golden Arrow one of the biggest diesel consumers in South Africa’s public transport sector.

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But that’s changing.

Golden Arrow began trialling electric buses in 2021 with three pilot vehicles on selected Cape Town routes. After evaluating performance, reliability, and operating costs, the company sealed a deal with Chinese manufacturer BYD to ramp up its electric fleet.

So far, 20 BYD electric buses have been delivered, with the number expected to grow to over 100 by year-end. That’s nearly 10% of the entire fleet swapped out for electric, and with each electric bus covering up to 300 kilometres on a single two-hour charge, the impact on diesel use will be immediate and significant.

To support the growing fleet, the company has already installed 30 charging stations across its depots and plans to double that infrastructure by the end of the year. More impressively, it plans to generate its own electricity to charge the buses, an energy shift that’s expected to slash fuel costs and improve energy independence.

Golden Arrow spokesperson Bronwen Dyke-Beyer summed it up: “I don’t think people know that we buy 25 million litres of diesel every single year. That is a huge amount of diesel, and the savings from generating our own electricity to charge these buses will be significant.”

With diesel prices becoming increasingly unpredictable and environmental regulations tightening, Golden Arrow sees electric buses as a long-term investment. More than that, the company hopes to pass the savings from reduced diesel use directly to commuters through lower ticket prices — a rare relief in an economy where public transport costs often rise faster than wages.

What started as a horse-drawn tram more than a century ago is now leading Africa’s push toward electric mass transport. And if the first 100 electric buses can save 2.5 million litres of diesel, imagine what the next few hundred could do.