A U.S. company will not be taking over a $20-million deal to supply Greater Victoria’s first cohort of electric buses.
In 2022, BC Transit said 10 electric buses would join the region’s fleet in the summer of 2023, but a Thursday (March 7) announcement said Greater Victoria will not be receiving them.
BC Transit awarded a contract to the California-based company Proterra in May 2022 to build and deliver the buses. The company filed for bankruptcy last summer, at which point its transit business was bought by Phoenix Motors.
BC Transit was in talks with that company about it possibly assuming the electric bus contract, but a decision approved in court on March 5 confirmed Phoenix would not be picking up the agreement. BC Transit told Black Press Media it has not provided any payment for the 10 scrapped buses.
The Crown corporation aims to have a fully electric fleet by 2040 and on Thursday said it’s been working for months to ensure its electrification program moves forward.
“The organization expects to have good news to share about our next steps forward in the coming months,” the transit operator said in a release.
BC Transit’s most recent Climate Change Accountability Report said 115 heavy-duty battery-electric buses and 134 charging points are planned to be deployed during phase one of the electrification program, which is set to run until 2026.
A spokesperson confirmed those 115 electric models were on top of the 10 that Proterra was expected to deliver.
“BC Transit continues to advance additional electric bus procurements, which will help facilitate future electric bus deliveries including the first batch of buses for Victoria,” spokesperson Jamie Weiss said. “We will have information to share soon about timelines.”
The climate accountability report stated the transit provider’s emissions dropped by 14 per cent between 2007 and 2022. However, BC Transit eclipsed its greenhouse gas emission reduction target for the 2022/2023 fiscal year by over 700 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Various BC Transit reports detail how emission cuts in recent years are the result of using more biofuels in compressed natural gas-powered buses. But they also note GHG reductions in future years will primarily come from introducing electric buses and the 10 included in the Proterra contract would’ve contributed to those cuts in the coming years.
BC Transit fuel costs came in at $36 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, which was an increase of $9.5 million from the previous year and was $7.5 million over budget. Higher market rates for diesel caused the increase in fuel costs, BC Transit’s most recent annual report said.
The less-carbon-intensive biofuels made up a quarter of the total fleet’s fuel supply in 2022, an increase from just seven per cent in 2021.
Eleven charging units have been constructed at the Victoria Transit Centre in preparation for the electric buses. BC Transit currently has no electric buses operating in its fleet. A demonstration electric bus started servicing Capital Region routes in July 2023 but has since completed its pilot run and will move on to a new owner later in March.
The Victoria Regional Transit System’s 10-year plan aims to more than double the percentage of transit users in Greater Victoria’s core and West Shore areas between 2022 and 2038.
READ: 10 electric buses on tap for Victoria despite bankruptcy protection
