The order is part of the Quebec government’s plan to switch all public transport to electric by 2025 and increase the number of electric-powered city buses, school buses, taxis, and private cars by 2030.
The initial order consists of 339 LFSe+ electric twelve-meter bus units, which can be equipped with batteries of up to 564 kWh and charged via cable at the depot or on the go. The Canadian government is subsidizing the procurement with CAD 780 million and the government of Quebec with a further CAD 1.1 billion, amounting to around €1.3 billion.
Nova Bus will build the LFSe+ frames for this order in Saint-François-du-Lac, and the buses will be assembled at the Saint-Eustache plant in Quebec. It is unclear which battery option the public transport operators have chosen, or whether all vehicles are configured the same. The delivery of the electric buses is expected between 2025 and 2027.
There have been major initiatives in acquiring electric buses across several provinces in Canada recently. For example, the city of Toronto in British Columbia is aiming to add 340 electric buses to their fleet. Meanwhile, Calgary in Alberta is looking to buy close to 300 electric buses over a span of four years. Ottawa, located in Ontario, has plans to procure as many as 350 electric buses. However, it's important to note that these instances refer to separate city orders, not a consolidated group purchase like the one observed in Quebec.
Source: Nova Bus
