New Flyer to supply six battery-electric Xcelsior buses to Brampton Transit; CUTRIC supported zero-emission bus program
30 July 2019
New Flyer Industries Canada, a subsidiary of NFI Group Inc. (NFI), one of the world’s largest independent global bus manufacturers, announced the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC) and Brampton Transit have jointly secured $11.15 million in federal funding from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) to support the adoption of zero-emission transit buses.
The NRCan funding furthers the government’s commitment to renewable transit options and supports the purchase of eight electric buses for Brampton—six of which are New Flyers Xcelsior model.
All participants of CUTRIC’s Pan-Canadian Electric Bus Demonstration and Integration Trial have now been funded. Other participants include York Region Transit and Translink.
New Flyer has been advancing innovation since its first ZEB delivery to the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in 1968. Since then, it has delivered more than 540 ZEBs across Canada. It has supported CUTRIC’s technical planning and design efforts with in-kind engineering contributions to the project’s innovation portion, requiring more two years’ worth of effort.
New Flyer also supported CUTRIC in advocacy to secure clean energy project funding for Brampton Transit following cancellation of prior funding from Ontario’s provincial government.
The NRCan funding also supports the purchase of four high-powered, OppCharge-compliant overhead charging systems—three from ABB and one from Siemens. With funding secured, Brampton Transit will resume participation in CUTRIC’s multi-manufacturer interoperability demonstration, part of its Pan-Canadian Trial and the first of its kind in the world testing interoperability of electric transit vehicles.
Brampton Transit has become one of Canada’s fastest-growing and most innovative transit providers, moving more than 31 million passengers in 2018 and committing to the reduction of Brampton’s carbon footprint and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through sustainable transit. Brampton Transit currently operates 422 buses, of which 110 are New Flyer electric hybrid buses that reduce GHG emissions by approximately 3,500 tonnes per year.
CUTRIC was founded in 2014 with a vision to make Canada a global leader in zero- and low- emissions transportation technologies, including advanced and integrated mobility technologies. It supports research and development through industry-academic collaborations that bring innovation, design, and manufacturing to Canada’s transportation supply chain; ultimately reducing fuel consumption and building a blueprint for Canadian Smart Mobility development. New Flyer has been a member of CUTRIC since inception.
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