The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island (PEI) will be adding another 35 electric buses from Montreal-based Lion Electric to its fleet.
Sean Casey, Member of Parliament for Charlottetown, announced the move on Friday alongside James Aylward, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, and Natalie Jameson, Minister of Education and Lifelong Learning.
The new all-electric buses will replace older diesel-powered buses in the fleet during the 2022-23 fiscal year.
Accounting for the installation of an accompanying charging station for each bus, the project requires about $12.4 million CAD. Funding comes from the Green Infrastructure Stream (GIS) of the “Investing in Canada” infrastructure plan, with both the federal and provincial governments pitching in over $6.2 million each.
“Islanders are committed to leading the way on climate action, and our government is here to support their ambitions. With this investment, we are building the foundation of a cleaner future for Islanders, while also ensuring our students have a reliable and modern way to get to and from school,” said Casey.
“We have 18,000 students on PEI who travel on school buses every day. By Investing in electric school buses, our students can directly see – and be part of – creating a cleaner, more sustainable province,” added Natalie Jameson, Minister of Education and Lifelong Learning.
The new purchases will add to the 35 electric buses PEI ordered from Lion Electric last year.
Transitioning to all-electric is starting to gain momentum in Canada’s public sector, especially for school buses. In November 2021, the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) signed an agreement to fund the purchase of 4,000 electric school buses in Quebec over the next five years.
