The government has ordered all fossil-fuelled buses off the road by 2035.
Otago Regional Council councillor Alexa Forbes said she wanted to get more people on buses and ensure they were a cleaner option, and the e-bus trial was a start.
"I think it's 47 per cent of our carbon emissions in Otago are as a result of transport, so that figure needs to come down and one of the greatest ways of bringing that figure down is getting people out of their private cars," she said.
Ensuring the public transport fleet was running on sustainable and renewable sources would be another great contributor to reducing emissions, Forbes said.
Electric buses were already being used in Auckland and Christchurch, but Dunedin's hills presented another chance to show off their capability.
The trial aims to see how the vehicle handles the different hills, routes and the motorway in Dunedin, and how charging times would need to be factored into route planning.The New Zealand-manufactured e-bus joined the Orbus Dunedin fleet yesterday.
