The Société de transport de Laval (STL) has unveiled Québec’s first battery-electric city bus with a range of 250km (155 miles), which will be used for testing and validation ahead of the scheduled 2020 entry into service of the province’s first all-electric bus line.
The fully-electric bus line will comprise 10 such vehicles, acquired as part of the largest contract for electric-bus production awarded in Québec. The STL initiated the project to procure 10 40ft (12m) slow-charge electric buses in collaboration with the Association du transport urbain du Québec. The Société de transport de Montréal participated in the call for tenders with an order of 30 additional buses.
According to STL the electric bus, which will be charged overnight at the STL garage, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by some 70 to 80 tonnes a year. Canadian-based New Flyer Industries Canada ULC has won the contract to manufacture the electric buses for STL, for summer 2020 delivery.
Procurement of the buses has been made possible following £5.9m (C$9.6m) in financial assistance from the governments of Canada and Québec, through the federal Gas Tax Fund and the Programme d’aide aux immobilisations en transport en commun (public transit capital acquisitions assistance program) of the Société de financement des infrastructures locales du Québec (SOFIL), respectively. The Canadian government is contributing £4.2m (C$6.8m), while the government of Québec is extending £1.7m (C$2.8m) in aid.
Éric Morasse, STL’s chairman of the board, said: “The STL is taking a major step toward the full conversion of its network by taking delivery of this new battery-electric bus. We are committed to reducing our GHG emissions by 45% by 2028, and these slow-charge vehicles will ensure that we meet that target. By 2024, purchases of gas-powered buses will be a thing of the past for the STL.”
