Montreal plans to have its entire fleet of buses powered by electricity by 2025. Why will it take so long?

Source: CBC News

Montreal Transit Corporation (STM) executive director of operations Carl Desrosiers said Friday that, “It’s not achievable today because technology is not [there yet], but it will be achievable by 2025,” he told CBC News.

I find that hard to believe. There are currently more than 25 manufacturers of trolleybuses.

The STM plans to start testing the buses within two years to see whether they can stand up to Montreal’s winters.

Desrosiers says the buses are best suited for short trips. The electric buses would likely need to recharge for five to 10 minutes after each 10 to 15 kilometre-long trip, he said.

It is still unclear how much the electric buses would cost, but Desrosiers said in the long term they would ultimately pay for themselves with the savings in fuel consumption.

On a person by person basis nothing makes a bigger difference to our carbon footprints than the reduction or even the complete elimination of using a passenger car daily. While we shouldn’t ignore the benefits of purchasing a new energy efficient appliance, adjusting our thermostats or ensuring unused lights are switched off all of these gesture pale into insignificance compared with reducing your driving by 70% or more. One person switching to public transit can reduce daily carbon emissions by 20 pounds per day or more than 4,800 pounds in a year, I won’t depress you and compare that to changing your light bulbs as all gestures matter – but the gasoline powered car is the single biggest individual green debt we use daily.