Five years after it declared a climate emergency—and courtesy of C$48 million in federal funding—Oakville, Ontario, is on track to electrify 50% of its bus fleet by the end of 2026.
Council’s decision to declare a climate emergency was a catalyst for Oakville Transit to electrify its transit system. “Council has a vision, and that vision enabled us to go ahead and start implementing these projects,” the agency’s director Adrian Kawun told Electric Autonomy Canada.
Oakville got its first taste of electric buses in October 2023, when 15 of the 20-foot-long Karsan e-JEST buses hit the streets. Purpose-built for accessibility, the vehicles are currently dedicated to on demand services, including care-A-van, an Oakville Transit door-to-door service for persons with disabilities.
Another 15 brand-new, 40-foot-long Nova buses, currently receiving finishing touches at Oakville Transit’s depot, are expected to roll on conventional fixed routes in early January. “The new buses can travel approximately 350 kilometres on a full charge, with most fixed routes requiring about 225 kilometres of travel in a day,” says Oakville Transit.
A further 34 electric buses are due to hit Oakville streets by the end of 2026, with details on their make and type not yet public.
Getting to 50% electrification in five years took serious work, with Oakville Transit needing to undertake an electricity needs assessment and software upgrades, figure out what buses to purchase, find a partner to install charging equipment and maintain it, and train staff, writes Electric Autonomy.
It also took serious cash, in the form of $48 million-plus from the federal Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP). Funding covered the purchase of all 74 electric buses, including those yet to be delivered.
With the ICIP funding now entirely spoken for, Kawun recommended in October that Oakville press pause on future electric bus purchases.
While empty coffers are an important factor in that decision, Kawun said it’ll be worth the community’s while in the long run to pause and assess lessons learned.
“Being the first on the racetrack, there’s a lot of things that we’re learning and, as we learn, we bring in the industry to help them understand, so that we can build a network that will be able to be relied on and provide service to customers.”
The opportunity to implement those lessons learned in another round of electric bus purchases will depend on a new batch of external funding, however.
Presented with three post-2026 adoption scenarios, city council told Kawun it would opt for the cheapest: no more electric buses. Without new dollars, any moves to refurbish or expand the transit fleet would have to use lower-priced diesel.
