More battery-electric buses for TransLink begin to arrive

TransLink’s new battery-electric bus being delivered from Quebec, November 2022. (Martin Gagnier/Nova Bus)

A second batch of battery-electric buses ordered by TransLink has begun to arrive in Metro Vancouver.

According to the public transit authority, the first of 15 new additional battery-electric buses have been delivered to TransLink’s bus depot facilities.

They will be tested over the coming months, ahead of their launch into service in early 2023.

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In early 2021, the federal government provided $16 million towards the acquisition of these zero-emission buses, which are designed and built by longtime TransLink supplier Nova Bus, based in Quebec.

All 15 battery-electric buses will allow Route 100 between 22nd Street Station in New Westminster and Marpole Loop in South Vancouver — operating along Marine Drive and Marine Way — to be fully converted into a 100% battery-electric bus service. Overhead charging stations built at the terminus stops of this route allow for its electrification.

This order is in addition to TransLink’s first batch of battery-electric buses — four vehicles that have been operating since 2019, including an older Nova Bus model that can only travel about 40 km on a single charge.

In contrast, the new Nova Bus LFSe+ model for the second batch has a range of over 150 km on a single charge, even during the winter months. This newer model was tested by TransLink earlier this year.

Over the longer term, TransLink is aiming to acquire battery-only buses for fleet expansion and aging replacements. It has plans to acquire 400 new battery-electric buses by 2030, but this requires additional funding for both the higher cost of such buses and the associated charging and maintenance facilities.

The most significant new facility to maintain a large fleet of battery-electric buses will be the new Marpole Transit Centre, which will be built on Vancouver’s Fraser River industrial waterfront just west of the Canada Line bridge. When complete, it will have the capacity to accommodate 300 battery-electric buses. TransLink recently began the procurement process for the facility’s construction management services.

The long-term transition towards using battery-electric buses is integral to TransLink’s strategy of reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

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