The TTC and PowerON Energy Solutions unveiled 10 newly commissioned, battery-electric bus (eBus) charging pantographs, Friday, expanding the TTC’s charging capacity.
The new pantographs will support overhead charging, delivering electricity from a centralized power source to chargers mounted above battery-electric buses. This transit charging system is the first phase of a 20-year agreement between the TTC and Ontario Power Generation subsidiary, PowerON Energy Solutions.
Said Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie. “This new system is good news for our transit system and our environment just ahead of Earth Day. Expanding the TTC’s charging capacity is crucial to our plans to have a completely green fleet in the future and we won’t get there without the continued co-operation and commitment of all our government partners.”
Added TTC Chair Jon Burnside. “The TTC operates one of the largest fleets of battery-electric buses in North America, and we look forward to continuing to expand and improve our eBus program, as we work towards a completely green fleet by 2040.”
Under the agreement, PowerON designs, builds, co-invests in, owns, and operates charging infrastructure to electrify the TTC’s bus fleet and facilities.
The TTC will transition its bus fleet to 100 per cent zero emissions by 2040 or sooner.
The news comes on the heels of an announcement earlier this week that the TTC is receiving the first of 336 additional hybrid-electric buses as part of its transition to a completely zero-emissions fleet. These buses, which begin arriving this month, will enter service in May after undergoing inspection and testing. This process will continue through to early next year.
All of these vehicles will replace existing buses that have reached the end of their useful life, including 68 sixty-foot hybrid-electric buses, which will replace older forty-foot buses, adding significant capacity to the fleet and reducing travel times.
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