Electric shock: A new study found that EVs were more expensive to fuel than gas-powered cars at the end of 2022
- Thread starter petros
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Fast forward to today and Edmonton has 60 of these buses in its fleet of 1,000. In December 2023, it was reported that only one quarter of these were in working order due to a range of problems. The company that built them, Proterra, filed for bankruptcy. Edmonton joined in on the bankruptcy proceedings, claiming that it was owed $82 million for the bus fiasco. Edmonton lawyers claimed that “None of the buses have ever achieved 328 km on a single charge,” and that “On average, the bus range has been approximately 165 km in the winter and, at best, 250 km in warmer weather.”
In 2024, Proterra was bought out and exited bankruptcy, but the faulty buses remain in Edmonton.
Directly to the north of Edmonton, the suburb of St. Albert ran another costly experiment with electric buses made by the Chinese EV company BYD. It acquired seven units in 2017 and 2018 and received a number of awards for its environmental efforts. The reality was less glamorous: three units needed battery replacements within the first five years of service; they travelled roughly half the distance in a month compared to their diesel counterparts; they were initially estimated to have a daily driving range of 233 kilometres but only reached 110 in the winter; their lifespan was downgraded to 12 years from 18.
Regina’s adoption of electric buses has been a disaster for the public. It’s the latest Canadian city to find this out the hard way.
The news slipped out during Regina city council’s Monday budget hearing, when transit union president Sukhwinder Singh was asked whether electric buses have impacted costs.
Aside from being more expensive to run — defeating their original purpose of saving on gas money — Singh said they were “not for the Saskatchewan weather.” He added that four buses had to be pulled off the line and re-charged the previous Friday, as they had fallen to 15 per cent battery. “I’m not in favour of electric buses at all,” he said.
“For the winter, their battery dies very quickly, and they can just run for two, three hours, that’s all,” he said. The buses weren’t good for the summer either, because the charge couldn’t reliably last.
Jamie Sarkonak: Electric buses are a disaster for every Canadian city that tries them — National Post
Regina is just the latest city to report problems with unreliable battery-powered transit
Regina would go on to announce its own plan to electrify the fleet despite these problems. On a public FAQ page, it dismissed fears of an Edmonton-like incident. Edmonton purchased its buses from Proterra; Regina was going with the company Novabus, which “has a long history of success in Canadian cities.”
And so, the Regina transit began using electric buses in 2025 as part of a bigger greenhouse gas reduction strategy, starting with seven. Another 13 are planned for delivery by mid-2026. So, when Singh reports that four of these buses needed to be pulled from the middle of their routes to charge, he’s talking about more than half of the electric fleet.
All in all, it was a $52 million endeavour, with half of that money coming from the federal government — as was the case in Edmonton. But at very least, Regina has mustered the courage to pivot to hybrid buses going forward.
Many of these electric bus trials have been supported by the federal Zero Emission Transit Fund. Interestingly, it doesn’t seem to be logging these problems: regarding the Regina buses, “No performance issues were reported in progress meetings” between the city and the infrastructure department. Indeed, across all of its electric bus projects, the department “has not been made aware of any performance issues related to weather conditions.” (???)
They have to lie because otherwise there would be hell to pay & most people don't pay attention to civic government anyway so they'll get away with it. Look at Edmonton. They voted in the same people who approved this garbage to begin with. Obviously, they're not paying attention to the screw ups that are happening on a regular basis. Voting does have consequences, but people simply aren't engaged.Fast forward to today and Edmonton has 60 of these buses in its fleet of 1,000. In December 2023, it was reported that only one quarter of these were in working order due to a range of problems. The company that built them, Proterra, filed for bankruptcy. Edmonton joined in on the bankruptcy proceedings, claiming that it was owed $82 million for the bus fiasco. Edmonton lawyers claimed that “None of the buses have ever achieved 328 km on a single charge,” and that “On average, the bus range has been approximately 165 km in the winter and, at best, 250 km in warmer weather.”
In 2024, Proterra was bought out and exited bankruptcy, but the faulty buses remain in Edmonton.
Directly to the north of Edmonton, the suburb of St. Albert ran another costly experiment with electric buses made by the Chinese EV company BYD. It acquired seven units in 2017 and 2018 and received a number of awards for its environmental efforts. The reality was less glamorous: three units needed battery replacements within the first five years of service; they travelled roughly half the distance in a month compared to their diesel counterparts; they were initially estimated to have a daily driving range of 233 kilometres but only reached 110 in the winter; their lifespan was downgraded to 12 years from 18.
Regina’s adoption of electric buses has been a disaster for the public. It’s the latest Canadian city to find this out the hard way.
The news slipped out during Regina city council’s Monday budget hearing, when transit union president Sukhwinder Singh was asked whether electric buses have impacted costs.
Aside from being more expensive to run — defeating their original purpose of saving on gas money — Singh said they were “not for the Saskatchewan weather.” He added that four buses had to be pulled off the line and re-charged the previous Friday, as they had fallen to 15 per cent battery. “I’m not in favour of electric buses at all,” he said.
“For the winter, their battery dies very quickly, and they can just run for two, three hours, that’s all,” he said. The buses weren’t good for the summer either, because the charge couldn’t reliably last.
It’s kind of a long story at the link, describing the experiences of Winnipeg and Toronto and St Albert and Saskatoon and Edmonton, etc…but it’s worth the read.
Jamie Sarkonak: Electric buses are a disaster for every Canadian city that tries them — National Post
Regina is just the latest city to report problems with unreliable battery-powered transitapple.news
Regina would go on to announce its own plan to electrify the fleet despite these problems. On a public FAQ page, it dismissed fears of an Edmonton-like incident. Edmonton purchased its buses from Proterra; Regina was going with the company Novabus, which “has a long history of success in Canadian cities.”
And so, the Regina transit began using electric buses in 2025 as part of a bigger greenhouse gas reduction strategy, starting with seven. Another 13 are planned for delivery by mid-2026. So, when Singh reports that four of these buses needed to be pulled from the middle of their routes to charge, he’s talking about more than half of the electric fleet.
All in all, it was a $52 million endeavour, with half of that money coming from the federal government — as was the case in Edmonton. But at very least, Regina has mustered the courage to pivot to hybrid buses going forward.
Many of these electric bus trials have been supported by the federal Zero Emission Transit Fund. Interestingly, it doesn’t seem to be logging these problems: regarding the Regina buses, “No performance issues were reported in progress meetings” between the city and the infrastructure department. Indeed, across all of its electric bus projects, the department “has not been made aware of any performance issues related to weather conditions.” (???)
While I could not possibly care less whether Regina or Edmonton or Moose Nuts or Bikini Lines or any other Canadian municipality runs its busses on electricity, cow farts, or good vibrations, governments have in the past promoted the development of new industries by doing business with less efficient or more expensive technologies to encourage improvement in those technologies. A number of governments, for example, promoted both the steamship and aviation industries by contracting with them to carry the mail.
TTC still runs trollys (streetcars) in Toronto. They had an electric bus in the 80s and 90s too. Ran up and down bay street. It had 2 wires above and ran on rubber wheels like a regular bus (no tracks). It never went beyond one or 2 routes and was killed in early y2k.
They also have some electric buses now. They are having similar issues as Edmonton.
Personally, since a bus is a mass-transit vehicle anyhow, the incremental per-person environmental benefit of running electric busses is minimal and does not justify the horribly increased costs.
They also have some electric buses now. They are having similar issues as Edmonton.
Personally, since a bus is a mass-transit vehicle anyhow, the incremental per-person environmental benefit of running electric busses is minimal and does not justify the horribly increased costs.