6 electric buses, charging station coming to Newmarket

Newmarket-Tay Power first utility in Ontario to participate in electric bus pilot project

Yorkregion.com
March 27, 2017
By Teresa Latchford

York Region and the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC) have partnered up with Newmarket-Tay Power Distribution to bring the electric buses and one electric charging station to town. This makes the local utility provider the first in Ontario to participate in an electric bus pilot project.

Newmarket-Tay will be responsible for maintaining an overhead, on-route bus charging station, which was the hurdle needed to move the pilot project forward.

“We are proud to be working with our utility provider to once again be a leader in bringing green technology to our community,” Newmarket Mayor Tony Van Bynen said. “This is a big step toward reducing our overall carbon footprint and creating a sustainable future.”

The charging station will be housed at the Newmarket Bus Terminal, located at Davis Drive and Eagle Street. Newmarket-Tay Power will work closely with the York Region and York Region Transit to provide data and analysis of the project.

“Electrification of transit is critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and utilities have a crucial role in this as the infrastructure support and electrical energy supplier in their service territories,” Newmarket-Tay Power president Paul Ferguson said. “It will support the government’s goals in electricity conservation through electricity load management that integrates the principles of electric vehicle charging, battery storage and distributed generation.”

The battery-operated buses produce zero greenhouse gas emissions and will address noise pollution and idling. These buses are expected to reduce operating and maintenance costs as well as create employment opportunities as they will be manufactured in Canada and the charging stations will have local service and support teams.

This project is part of the Pan-Ontario Electric Bus Demonstration and Integration Trial, the first of its kind in the world. CUTRIC is working with transit agencies, funding partners, research teams, technology tools, manufacturing stakeholders and multiple levels of government to design, manufacture and deploy zero-emission electric buses accompanied by charging stations in cities across Canada. Until now, Brampton was the only municipality to agree to participate in the trial.