In Quebec’s Lac-Saint-Jean region, a growing number of children ride to school without a whiff of diesel.
Groupe Autocar Jeannois, a bus company based in Alma, runs an electric fleet of 33 school buses, two minibuses and a medium-duty truck. These are supported with 42 charging stations and a sophisticated charging ecosystem.
Groupe Autocar Jeannois traces its roots to 1974, when three school bus contractors in the Lac-Saint-Jean area combined their operations.
The company now runs school transportation, charter and tour coaches under its Autocar Sagamie and Autocar La Capitale divisions, corporate shuttles, sedan service, and adapted transit in Alma. It also operates the Charlevoix regional transit network and has locations in La Malbaie, Hébertville, Saint-Siméon and Montreal.
Its electric story stretches back about a decade. It tested one of the first six electric school buses that Quebec manufacturer Lion Electric put on the road for trials in 2015.
“As an early adopter, we entered largely uncharted territory, testing new technology while building internal expertise and confidence,” a company spokesperson said.
“The project required us to overcome significant challenges, including limited charging infrastructure, evolving vehicle technology, and the need to adapt maintenance and operational practices to support an electric fleet.”
Three electric school buses joined the fleet in August 2021. Two months later, the company announced an order worth several million dollars for 35 more electric school buses, to be delivered over five years, with an option on five more.
It also bought four electric minibuses to gradually replace diesel models on its corporate and tourism shuttles and planned to use some in the Montreal area.
At the time, Stéphane Lefebvre, president and CEO, told regional business publication Informe Affaires that the shift was not entirely a choice. Quebec was moving to require that new school bus purchases be electric, and the company had to plan for it.
As part of the 2021 deal, Groupe Autocar Jeannois became Lion’s first authorized service centre in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, handling maintenance and warranty work for other operators in the region.
In 2024, the company began building a new head office worth more than $6 million in Alma’s eco-responsible industrial park. It brings administration and vehicle maintenance, previously spread across three Alma sites, under one roof and includes equipment to electrify its vehicles.
The company has now said it aims to electrify its entire bus fleet by 2035. It is an active member of the Fédération des transporteurs par autobus (FTA), a major stakeholder and driving force behind Quebec’s school bus electrification program.
“One of our proudest achievements is proving that electric school transportation can be both reliable and scalable in a real-world operating environment,” said the company spokesperson.
“Since beginning our electrification journey in 2014, we have successfully integrated electric school buses into our fleet while maintaining the high safety and service standards expected by students, families, and school boards.”
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