Kingston receives over $500K in federal funding for new electric buses

The City of Kingston has officially received over $500,000 in funding to start building a fleet of electric public transit buses.

On Wednesday, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities announced that along with the federal government, they will be doling out $2.5 million to several communities across the country to help them “develop innovative solutions to reduce pollution, improve energy efficiency and find new uses for their public infrastructure.”

The city says the funding from the federation is simply the first step in “incrementally electrifying the city’s fleet.”

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For now, the city has secured enough funding for two long-range electric buses, which they estimate will cost over $2.7 million.

“This includes the cost of the bus, a charger (including installation and commissioning), staff training and public marketing and communication,” a city spokesperson told Global News.

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The city is also receiving over $1 million from the investing in Canada infrastructure program — a federal grant — and will be using over $1 million from its own transit capital reserve fund.

According to a city report, the Kingston Transit storage facility currently has the capacity to store and charge up to four electric buses. The city will be going through an electrical capacity study in 2020 to see how much it will cost to house and charged additional electric buses.

The first electric bus is slated to be in operation by the end of 2020.