TransLink will run its first 100% electric-battery bus route starting in 2024

TransLink will operate its first 100% electric-battery bus route starting in 2024

TransLink's first new Nova LFSEe+ electric-battery bus being charged at the bus loop at SkyTrain 22nd Street Station. (TransLink)

Starting today, the regular operation of a new additional electric-battery bus vehicle will allow an existing bus route traversing between Vancouver, Burnaby, and New Westminster to be gradually converted into TransLink’s first bus route that uses only electric-battery buses.

The first vehicle from an order of 15 new additional electric-battery buses is now being used on Route 100, which runs east-west along Marine Drive and Marine Way between Marpole loop in South Vancouver and SkyTrain 22nd Street Station in New Westminster.

With more electric-battery buses progressively entering service, the public transit authority will turn Route 100 into a 100% electric-battery bus route by late 2024.

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During this morning’s press conference, TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn said this is the “world debut” of the Nova LFSEe+ model of the electric-battery bus for regular service. This vehicle was previously extensively tested by TransLink, before its decision to proceed with using the model for this fleet order.

On a single charge, the model of bus made by Quebec manufacturer Nova Bus, a division of Volvo, can travel a distance of 150 km. Its battery power can also be topped up in about five minutes by on-route overhead chargers, previously installed at the Marpole and 22nd Street Station bus loops.

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

While each electric-battery bus carries an acquisition cost of over $1 million, substantially more than a traditional diesel bus, they will save TransLink about $40,000 in fuel costs per bus annually.

Not only are these buses zero emission, but they are also significantly quieter and run more smoothly than diesel buses.

“Transit is already one of the greenest ways to travel, but these buses will make it even greener,” said Quinn.

These 15 new vehicles add to the initial four electric-battery buses that have been in service on Route 100 since 2019, increasing TransLink’s electric-battery fleet to 19 vehicles.

The electric-battery bus fleet will further grow exponentially to 155 vehicles by late 2025, and then to over 400 vehicles by 2030. TransLink has ended its practice of acquiring new hybrid diesel buses, and the only new fossil fuel-powered buses in the pipeline will be compressed renewable natural gas vehicles, as a transition to future additional electric-battery buses and to ensure aging buses are replaced in a timely manner.

Before a significant electric-battery fleet can be introduced, TransLink needs to introduce maintenance and charging infrastructure. It has plans to install overhead charging stations across the region, modify existing bus depots, and build a new additional major bus depot in South Vancouver — located on the Fraser River industrial waterfront just west of the Canada Line bridge — with a capacity to handle about 400 electric-battery buses. All of this infrastructure will be in place over the coming years.

TransLink is aiming to transition to a zero-emission bus fleet by 2040, and reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions for all of its operations by 2050.

Currently, TransLink has a fleet size of nearly 1,500 conventional buses.

“Battery-electric buses are good for customers, and are good for our environment. Fully electrifying Route 100 is the first step as we charge towards our goal of turning over to a zero-emission bus fleet,” said Brad West, the mayor of Port Coquitlam and the chair of TransLink’s Mayors’ Council.

In early 2021, the federal government provided TransLink with $16 million to cover the cost of the current order of 15 electric-battery buses from Nova Bus.

This spring, the Marine Drive corridor between SkyTrain Marine Drive Station and River District in East Fraser Lands will see further improved services from the launch of a limited-stop express bus service, running during weekday peak periods. There are also plans later this decade to launch a RapidBus or bus rapid transit (BRT) service along the corridor.

In 2019, Route 100 was TransLink’s 20th busiest bus route out of a total of 216 routes. It saw 4.7 million annual boardings, with averages of 14,500 boardings per weekday, 10,100 per Saturday, and 8,800 per Sunday/holiday.

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