The Town of Oakville, Canada, will add 15 new Nova LFSE+ 40-foot electric buses to its public transport fleet this month. In the next two years, the town plans to expand its electric bus fleet by adding 29 additional buses, both small and large-capacity models.
The 40-foot LFSE+ buses, produced by Volvo Group subsidiary Nova Bus, will replace some of the existing diesel buses currently in service. This is not Oakville’s first purchase from Nova, as 30 of the company’s electric buses are already operating in the town.
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The LFSe+ model is based on the stainless steel structure of the LFS model, with improvements including a larger battery capacity of up to 564 kWh. The buses are capable of charging either at the depot or on the go via a pantograph, and they offer slightly higher passenger capacity compared to the LFSe version.
The new buses will have a range of up to 350 kilometres, with most fixed routes in Oakville requiring about 225 kilometres of travel per day. To accommodate the expansion of electric buses, Oakville Transit is also constructing a 37,000 square foot extension to its facility, which will include an electrification system with automated charging infrastructure designed for energy efficiency.
The purchase of the electric buses is supported by the Public Transit Infrastructure Stream (PTIS) of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP), with a total investment of 66.7 million CAD from the Canadian government, the Government of Ontario, and the Town of Oakville. Nova Bus, which manufactures these electric buses in Quebec, has announced that it will close its Plattsburgh facility in the U.S. by 2025.
