May/June 2024 - 32

Cleaner Transit
According to the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's GHG Equivalencies
Calculator, that's the equivalent of
avoiding 150-352 gas-powered passenger
cars being driven for one year.
" People that run transit across CanPhase
II of the
Pan-Canadian
Battery
Electric Bus
Demonstration
and Integration
project will
look at new
technologies in
autonomy and
charging.
Photo: CUTRIC
the program can plug into the OppCharge protocol, which
is an open protocol jointly developed with the Volvo Bus
Corporation. The protocol standardizes the design of the offboard
pantograph that connects the high-powered charging
station to the bus, communications between the bus and the
charger and performance metrics of the overall system. The
chargers were built to the same specifications and could be
plugged into any of the transit agencies BEBs.
" While transit agencies demonstrate environmental leadership,
they also improve air quality while passengers enjoy
quieter, cleaner and more comfortable rides, " Smith said. " The
community benefits from reduced greenhouse gas emissions,
improved public health and enhanced quality of life. "
" We are seeing folks from agencies across
Canada showing up to get involved in this
project so they can figure out how to leapfrog
... slowdowns in decarbonization planning. "
Josipa Petrunic, CUTRIC Executive Director and CEO
A greener future in transit and the community
A broader perspective of this project is to promote a full
transition to zero-emissions fleets. Greener transportation
vehicles stand to benefit a wide range of stakeholders, including
transit agencies, passengers and the community.
CUTRIC is working to set a precedent for large greenhouse
gas (GHG) producers by showcasing the feasibility and benefits
of electrifying public transit, which CUTRIC says will
encourage other industries to follow suit, leading to greater
reductions in GHG emissions and fostering a culture of
sustainability across other industry sectors.
In this program, participating agencies demonstrated
GHG savings between 629 -1477 tCO2eq during 30 months.
32 Mass Transit | MAY/JUNE 2024
ada are realizing now how big and
expensive decarbonization is going
to be, " said CUTRIC Executive Director
and CEO Josipa Petrunic. " We
are seeing folks from agencies across
Canada showing up to get involved
in this project so they can figure out
how to leapfrog what might be years of
pre-pandemic and pandemic-era slowdowns
in decarbonization planning.
We expect another successful project
that shows how data analysis can lead
to demonstration and commercialization
success. "
What's next
Phase II will launch with its first group
participants coming together for a
planned meeting in June 2024. The
expected completion date for Phase
II is set for the end of 2025. CUTRIC
will be using data and reports from the
second phase to prepare for Phase III,
which is already being planned.
Phase III will launch alongside some
of the work CUTRIC is doing in Phase
II, focusing on new technologies in autonomy
and charging. In Phase III, a
new commercialization demonstration
project will be in the works, with a focus
on standardized and interoperable
autonomous bus integration with inductive
charging potential for limited
applications.
CUTRIC is working to create a
greener environment through the
transit industry, bus by bus.
" I hope folks realize that we have only
just begun the electrification journey
- it's going to be big, complicated and
expensive but it's necessary, " Petrunic
said. " One more wildfire season and
Canadians will be lamenting any slowdown
in climate action. We need this
conversion and all the hard lessons to
be learned from it to go forward, to
be implemented and to be built upon
by 2030 to be able to prove that - as
humans-we can live sustainably. "
May/June 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May/June 2024
