Brampton: Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, along with Ms. Ruby Sahota, Member of Parliament for Brampton North, Khamal Khera (MP for Brampton West), Maninder Sidhu (MP for Brampton East), and Sonia Sidhu (MP for Brampton South) along with Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown and members of the Council introduced the new battery-electric buses (BEBs) that began running on Brampton’s roads starting May 4 on Route 23 (Sandalwood) and Route 26 (Mount Pleasant).
“This will be the largest single global deployment to date of standardized and fully interoperable BEBs and high-powered overhead on-route charging systems, as part of the Pan-Canadian BEB Demonstration and Integration Trial,” said MP Sahota.
“These eight electric buses are just the start of Brampton Transit’s electric fleet. This is an important and critical investment in the future of our city and our public transit.”
Brampton joins TransLink and York Region Transit in this global-first, multi-city deployment of fully interoperable buses and charging systems in partnership with Nova Bus, New Flyer Industries, ABB Inc., Siemens Canada, and Newmarket-Tay Power Distribution Ltd.
The Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC) launched this project in 2017. It will be the first in the world where vehicles and chargers from different manufacturers can be used in fully interoperable form, meaning they can plug into one another’s charging infrastructure to gain a charge.
Brampton’s deployment differs from deployments in other cities where buses can only charge at designated charging depots. Brampton’s depot and on-road charging options allow for an increase in daily travel ranges on the electric buses.
This breakthrough electric bus technology will support zero tailpipe emissions and reduce pollution. The buses will also achieve near-zero emissions in their lifecycle, a significant decrease in emissions from diesel equivalents. Each bus can charge completely in less than 10 minutes.
Brampton Transit will add eight BEBs to its fleet, two from Nova Bus and six from New Flyer. Four high-powered (450 kWh) overhead pantograph on-route charging stations are installed at the Mount Pleasant Village terminal, the Queen Street/Highway 50 Züm station, and the Sandalwood Transit Facility, three from ABB Inc. and one from Siemens Canada Ltd.
Mayor Patrick Brown called it a very exciting development in an interview with a Peel newspaper, saying Brampton will be the first city in Canada to run these new buses.
“Brampton wants to to be a green city,” said Brown, who called the new vehicles “the way of the future,” he was quoted as saying.
