CUTRIC-led trial marks milestone with arrival of Brampton’s first electric bus
Pan-Canadian Demonstration and Integration Trial is the first in the world to design, develop and integrate vehicles with charging systems that can operate interactively despite being made by different manufacturers
BRAMPTON, ON, January 28, 2021 – The Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC) congratulates Brampton Transit on the arrival of its first Nova Bus battery electric bus (BEB) as part of the Pan-Canadian Electric Bus Demonstration and Integration Trial, which will soon support North America’s largest deployment of interoperable and standardized BEBs with high-powered charging.
Brampton Transit’s inaugural BEB is the first of eight that will be deployed with four high-powered overhead chargers in fully interoperable mode by the end of 2021. The buses can plug-and-drive using various makes and models of high-powered charging systems supplied by ABB Inc. and Siemens Canada Ltd.
“This is a very exciting development in the milestone Pan-Canadian Battery Electric Bus Demonstration and Integration Trial in Brampton,” said Mayor Patrick Brown. “Brampton is a Green City, and we are proud to collaborate with CUTRIC and various project partners to further enhance the sustainability and connectedness of our transit network through this global-first electric bus project.”
Starting in 2016, Brampton Transit spearheaded the national trial’s planning process under the leadership of former Director Sue Connor, who now leads Burlington Transit. Brampton Transit is the third of three participating agencies to deploy interoperable BEBs and charging infrastructure as part of CUTRIC’s national demonstration project. TransLink achieved this feat in Vancouver in 2018, with York Region Transit following suit a year later.
Part of a nationally coordinated effort to advance zero-emissions transit technology, the Pan-Canadian Electric Bus Demonstration and Integration Trial is the first in the world to design, develop and integrate BEBs with charging systems that can operate interactively despite being made by different manufacturers. After achiving its initial goal of deploying 18 BEBs and seven overhead chargers in Vancouver, York Region and Brampton, the trial will expand to include hundreds of BEBs across seven cities as part of a national joint procurement initiative using an innovative funding and financing solution from the Infrastructure Bank of Canada.
All three transit agencies in the trial have agreed to collect real-time BEB and charger data, and to share those data sets with each other to support evidence-based electrification procurements in the immediate future. CUTRIC is supporting this data collection from all operational vehicles and chargers in order to support empirical analysis and interoperability testing, and to build a Canadian E-Bus Big Data Trust for municipalities across the country.
« The growth of the Pan-Canadian Electric Bus Demonstration and Integration Trial makes Canada a world leader in electric and zero-emissions transportation technologies by shifting the entire industry towards interoperability and standardization,” said Josipa Petrunic, President and CEO of CUTRIC. “This is good news for taxpayers and great news for transit riders. This project is generating new low-carbon technology jobs and attracting foreign direct investment by major companies in Canada’s tech development sector, which is more critical than ever in a time of post-pandemic recovery. »
About CUTRIC
CUTRIC is a non-profit innovation consortium with a vision to make Canada a global leader in low-carbon smart mobility. Through industry-led collaborative research and large-scale technology integration trials, CUTRIC is working to achieve this goal by focusing on technology development, integration and standardization of low-carbon propulsion systems and smart vehicle systems, data-driven analytics in mobility, and cybersecurity in transportation.
Media contact:
Kathleen Reid
604-724-1242