This report summarizes results from an extensive literature review of different transit electrification deployments and experiences, including service provider insights, charging standards overviews and electric bus deployment data both in Canada and globally. Additionally, pilot projects in Canadian cities, as well as each province’s and territory’s readiness for transit electrification, are reviewed in this report, along with an overview of policies and incentives facilitating zero-emission bus (ZEB) adoption and funding opportunities to support fleet electrification. In sum, the results of a comprehensive review of the Canadian landscape in terms of fleet electrification, charging deployments and utility strategies is combined here with results from detailed semi-structured interviews with Canadian and North American transit agencies, as well as semi-structured focus group consultation outputs and outcomes from a series of semi-structured conference panel sessions. This study offers a summary of best practices in the form of recommendations to Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) in its pursuit of best practices for transit electrification and charging infrastructure deployment to deliver predictable, reliable and cost-effective electrified fleet systems to Canadians in the near- to mid-term future.
