Move to electric buses meets resistance in Waterloo Region

Grand River Transit's first fully-electric bus was revealed on Jan. 26, 2024. (Dan Lauckner/CTV Kitchener)

Grand River Transit will not be making the jump to an all-electric bus fleet anytime soon.

According to a report presented to the Region of Waterloo’s Sustainability, Infrastructure, and Development committee last week, staff believe it is not feasible to rely on electric buses to deal with upcoming replacement and expansion needs.

Four years ago, Waterloo Regional council approved a GRT plan to move towards low and zero-emission vehicles. They recommended putting the brakes on the purchase of any new diesel buses, instead relying on hybrid buses, while e-bus technology continues to evolve.

GRT currently has a fleet of more than 300 40-foot buses, and planned to purchase 11 e-buses as part of a pilot project that began earlier this year.

Route 7, along King Street between Kitchener and Waterloo, has been designated as a dedicated pilot route for the program.

E-bus challenges

One of the major issues staff have noticed so far is how far the e-buses are able to travel before they need to stop for a charge.

The staff report presented to the committee stated diesel and hybrid buses tend to have a range of approximately 1,000 km. Meanwhile, e-buses can only be on the road for around 200 km before they need to stop to recharge, which can take up to four hours.

Procurement has also proved to be a significant hurdle.

While GRT ordered 11 e-buses in 2022, only seven of those buses are currently on the road due to manufacturing delays and supply chain challenges.

The buses and six chargers were bought from Nova Bus, using a combination of federal, provincial and regional funds, at a cost of about $15.1 million.

If GRT wanted to add more chargers to existing garages, there is only space for four new stations without relying on costly and complex upgrades.

GRT’s Northfield Drive Maintenance Facility in Waterloo is the only facility currently that has the chargers for fully electric buses.

Growing demand

The staff report claimed it is not possible to rely on e-bus technologies to meet GRT’s replacement schedule over the next few years. As demand continues to grow across the region, GRT expects to need approximately 10 new buses every year to handle the demand.

GRT reported record-breaking ridership numbers last year and expects to top that record again this year.

Spark of hope

Despite the dour outlook on current technologies, the region is not calling it quits in their pursuit of eventually moving towards an electrified fleet.

“As electric vehicles improve, as we get more charging infrastructure, as the range of the batteries continue to increase to a more comparable level to a hybrid or a diesel bus, it's certainly something we'll continue to evaluate and look closely at,” Neil Malcolm, the region’s acting director of transit, told CTV News.