The project will put 1,000 electric buses into service and move over 40 million passengers per year

A local public transit service in southern Ontario is receiving an eye-watering $4 billion investment to electrify its fleet.

Brampton, Ont., a suburb northwest of Toronto, and Zenobē, a UK-based global fleet electrification and battery storage specialist company, have confirmed a deal to electrify 1,000 city buses.

The “first phase” of the 10-year project is set to launch in 2027.

“Brampton is proud to lead one of North America’s largest zero-emission transit projects, and we are grateful to our partners in the UK and Canada for helping make this bold vision a reality,” said Brampton mayor, Patrick Brown, in a press statement.

“By transitioning to a fully electric bus fleet, we’re not only reducing emissions — we’re creating jobs, improving air quality, and building a cleaner, healthier future for our residents.”

UK-Canada collaboration

The deal between Zenobē and Brampton will draw $1 billion in foreign investment into Canada, with the two partners dividing responsibilities in the transit project.

Brampton will be responsible for procurement of the electric buses from Canadian suppliers (financing that part of the project in part through repayable loans from the Canada Infrastructure Bank), while Zenobē will focus on planning and design, software, supply chain relationships and capital markets expertise.

In addition, UK and Canadian technical teams will work together to manage the Brampton transit fleet and its charging assets.

“With one of the largest zero-emission bus programs in North America, Brampton is setting a new standard for sustainable, modern public transit,” says Heidi Dempster, general manager of transit for the City of Brampton.

“This partnership will also drive local economic growth, creating thousands of jobs and building expertise right here in Brampton.”

Zenobē growing in Canada

While it was founded relatively recently in 2017, the name Zenobē will sound increasingly familiar to Canadians these days.

Just weeks before the turnkey solution provider’s announcement with the City of Brampton, Zenobē confirmed it was providing $48 million in debt financing to Canadian EV-as-a-Service provider company, 7Gen.

The money from that deal will be used to deploy up to 500 electric vehicles and their accompanying charging infrastructure across Canada.

With these recent moves, Zenobē is sending a clear signal about their interest in the Canadian market. This follows the company’s previous investments in the U.S., UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, which support over 2,000 electric vehicles and 120 depots.

“We see momentum behind decarbonization in Canada’s supportive government policies and the clean, affordable power that will ensure a lower total cost of ownership for zero-emissions vehicles,” said Zenobē co-founder and director, Steven Meersman, at the time of the 7Gen announcement.

Meersman also commented on the importance of its collaboration with the City of Brampton: “We are delighted to grow our presence in Canada, and with Brampton, as we jointly achieve their financial and ecological objectives. We expect this will serve as a model for other projects currently under development.”