Winnipeg's first battery-powered electric bus goes into service tomorrow

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This article was published 27/11/2014 (2082 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg has zapped itself to the head of the pack of battery-electric bus service with the first battery-electric bus in regular service starting tomorrow morning on — you guessed it — route 20 Watt.

The New Flyer Industries electric bus — built in collaboration with a number of industry partners — will join three others that Winnipeg Transit will operate for a four year test period.

Industry officials believe the battery-powered buses will be the technology of the future. Each zero emission bus is expected to eliminate about 160 tonnes of green house gas emissions per bus per year and save hundreds of thousands of dollars through the life of the vehicle from reduced fuel costs and reduced maintenance expense.

The first high power charging station has been installed at the Winnipeg Richardson Airport. The automated roof mounted charging takes about 10 minutes while the bus loads and unloads passengers at the airport end of the route.

The battery capacity allows the bus to operate for five hours without recharge and by charging on route the bus could stay in service 20 hours per day seven days per week.