In Canada, zero-emission bus (ZEB) technology is gaining traction as the desire to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the transportation sector increases.

Currently, transportation is responsible for 25 per cent of Canada’s overall GHG emissions. ZEB technology offers transit agencies a system that has cleaner in-carbon air quality, reduced noise pollution, and the potential for more affordable transit over the long term.

Across Canada, there are a number of transit agencies that support the process of transportation electrification and are actively working toward a full fleet transition.

As a result, CUTRIC has designed and launched the Canadian ZEB Database™.

What is the Canadian ZEB Database™?

The Canadian ZEB Database™ tracks asset and infrastructure data from several Canadian transit agencies to monitor the Canadian ZEB landscape and evaluate the readiness of transit agencies and provinces to adopt transit electrification.

The purpose of the database is to provide a standardized national scan, analysis, and characterization of the Canadian ZEB landscape. It provides a snapshot of the current state of ZEBs in Canada and a review of the provinces and municipalities that have committed to procuring ZEBs in the next five years.

The Canadian ZEB Database™ is designed to support transit agencies, municipalities and school boards in tracking their efforts toward transportation electrification. It has also been created as a resource for governments and other decision-makers to use to compare and assess the effect of relevant public policies.

Download CUTRIC’s Canadian ZEB Database™ Report

CUTRIC has recently released the Canadian ZEB Database™: Canada’s zero-emission bus landscape and electrification readiness report.

The report provides insight into the readiness of Canadian transit agencies and municipalities to meet Canada’s ZEB target of having 5,000 ZEBs over five years.

Using data directly provided by transit agencies and from the public domain, this report summarizes and reports on ZEB data categorized by the following technologies:

• Battery electric buses (BEB) are powered by electricity stored in rechargeable on-board battery packages.
• Fuel cell electric buses (FCEB) require a hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) to charge an on-board battery, powered by an on-board electric motor.
• Compressed natural gas buses (CNG) are fueled with renewable natural gas (RNG) using refined or upgraded anaerobically-generated biogas in place of traditional fossil fuels.
• Electric low-speed autonomous shuttle (e-LSA) is an emerging class of shared mobility for first-kilometre/last-kilometre application in local municipal systems.
• In-depot and on-route charging infrastructure support the operation of electric buses.

In this report, you’ll also find a comprehensive review of the current status of BEBs, FCEBs, the transition from CNG to RNG (R-CNGs) buses, and the challenges each of those technologies face.

According to the data collected by CUTRIC up until April 2022, BEBs make up 55 per cent of all current national transit electrification plans. Up until 2022, there have been 943 BEBs introduced in Canada. There are 708 CNG buses at various stages of deployment that will make up for 42 per cent of all buses to transition to a lower carbon mode. Lastly, by the end of 2022, 45 FCEBs will be introduced to make up three per cent of the total zero-emission fleets.

CUTRIC’s data analysis reveals that while trends demonstrate growth in BEBs and FCEBs year over year, there is a considerable amount of planning and support needed to meet Canada’s targets.

To find out more, download our analysis and review of the Canadian zero-emission bus (ZEB) landscape.

Please note that the Canadian ZEB Database™ is constantly updating to include new announcements, therefore this data may not be accurate after the report’s publishing date.