There’s a potential new customer for electric buses that has some clean tech workers in Winnipeg feeling excited: Winnipeg Transit. Local manufacturer NFI Group has its eyes on the transit agency’s recent promise to electrify 20 per cent of its 600-bus fleet by 2027. Winnipeg has secured funds to purchase 100 electric buses — and make the country’s first major investment in transit powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

The money comes as part of a $500-million investment from all three levels of government that will see Winnipeg purchase new buses and charging infrastructure, upgrade its North End garage to accommodate zero-emission vehicles, and re-design its transit master plan. 

Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson delivers an announcement in front of a transit bus wearing a powder blue suit and round red glasses
Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson joined federal ministers and Winnipeg’s mayor to announce the $500-million transit investment in July. Photo: Mikaela Mackenzie / Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg’s mid-sized fleet and flat topography make the city a good candidate for electrification, Josipa Petrunic at the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium explains. But there’s a uniquely Winnipeg catch, too: extreme weather conditions and long bus routes. 

Current battery packs for electric buses aren’t powerful enough to carry a bus through a day on just one charge, meaning Winnipeg will need to invest in overhead charging stations and hydrogen fuel cell technology — which has a longer battery range.

Winnipeg has committed to purchasing a few dozen hydrogen fuel cell buses — the first major investment in that technology in Canada. As of now, there are just two hydrogen buses running in Canada, both on a trial basis in Edmonton. 

In order to produce enough hydrogen to power its new fleet, Winnipeg is also going to have to install an on-site electrolyzer, making Winnipeg Transit Manitoba’s newest energy producer, says Petrunic. 

Though the procurement process for Winnipeg’s new buses has only just begun, Premier Heather Stefanson and Mayor Brian Bowman both suggested they hope the funding will be able to support economic growth — and job retention — at home in Winnipeg.

New Flyer Industries went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange as NFI Group in 2005.

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Like a kid in a candy store
When those boxes of heavily redacted documents start to pile in, reporters at The Narwhal waste no time in looking for kernels of news that matter the most. Just ask our Prairies reporter Drew Anderson, who gleefully scanned through freedom of information files like a kid in a candy store, leading to pretty damning revelations in Alberta. Long story short: the government wasn’t being forthright when it claimed its pause on new renewable energy projects wasn’t political. Just like that, our small team was again leading the charge on a pretty big story

In an oil-rich province like Alberta, that kind of reporting is crucial. But look at our investigative work on TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline to the west, or our Greenbelt reporting out in Ontario. They all highlight one thing: those with power over our shared natural world don’t want you to know how — or why — they call the shots. And we try to disrupt that.

Our journalism is powered by people just like you. We never take corporate ad dollars, or put this public-interest information behind a paywall. Will you join the pod of Narwhals that make a difference by helping us uncover some of the most important stories of our time?

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