Where are Hamilton’s electric buses?
The city has vowed to phase out diesel-fuelled public transit, but the shift to zero emission has stalled
Hamilton’s last diesel-fuelled HSR bus should be off the road by 2024 — but there’s still no timeline for the city to switch gears to zero-emission electric public transit.
Many of the city’s largest neighbours — including Toronto, Oakville, Brampton and Mississauga — have either already started running electric buses or committed to buying them.
In Hamilton, councillors voted Tuesday to never again buy another diesel bus — but that was mostly a formality, since all new buses purchased since 2013 have run on cleaner-burning compressed natural gas (CNG).
Nearly half of the 267 buses in the HSR fleet still run on diesel, although some are hybrids. Regardless, all of the aging diesel buses will need to be replaced within four years.
“Ultimately, we want to start acquiring electric vehicles,” said Mayor Fred Eisenberger, who urged HSR staff to start studying electric bus options two years ago.
“We know they are viable ... the outstanding issue is cost.”
The city test drove two different models of electric buses on loan in 2018 and a planned new bus storage facility is expected to be outfitted for electric charging.
HSR officials say a report on a possible electric bus pilot is on the way.
But the latest bus purchases by the city are still for CNG vehicles — and an electric-powered light rail transit line planned for Hamilton’s busiest transit corridor was infamously cancelled by the province in 2019.
LRT politics aside, Hamilton has a few other challenges to overcome before it can go electric, said HSR fleet manager Mark Selkirk.
An electric bus costs up to $1.2 million compared to an $700,000 CNG equivalent — and charging infrastructure is pricey, too. The federal and provincial governments put up more than $40 million toward Oakville’s recent commitment to replace dozens of diesel buses with electric over six years.
“Range anxiety” is another potential issue on longer HSR routes — as is Hamilton’s steep escarpment.
But the biggest problem right now might be where to store and power up the buses.
Selkirk said the city could temporarily accommodate and charge up to 10 electric buses at its crowded Upper James facility. But to add any more, the city needs to build a new lower city bus barn that is still awaiting long-requested federal and provincial grant money.
Selkirk, who is retiring in March, said he would prefer to see the city “get its feet wet” with electric buses sooner rather than later.
He pointed out the city was among the first to use hybrid articulated buses in 2006 and later start converting the fleet en masse to CNG vehicles that pump out 70 per cent fewer emissions than a typical diesel bus.
“We have a history of pioneering clean technology and I’d love to see that continue,” he said.