Langs Bus Lines' electric buses hitting London streets as school returns

Families heading back to school this morning may notice something new on London roads — electric school buses. 

Langs Bus Lines, which has about 400 diesel school buses, is slowly starting the process of converting about half its fleet to electric, said company vice-president Kevin Langs, with a handful of the no-emission vehicles hitting the streets today. 

"We were involved in a pilot project in 2017 and that was our first experience with electric buses. Our focus is that ultimately, over the next five years, we're looking to replace 200 buses to electric. We're just at the very beginning stages," Langs said. 

Already, drivers say the electric buses are fun to drive, quiet, and kids get a kick out of the new machines that they know are helping the environment, he added. 

Each bus takes about six to eight hours to charge, and can go about 150 kilometres on a single charge. They're provided by The Lion Electric Company, based in Quebec. Lion creates, designs and manufacturers medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicles. 

"It is very encouraging to see so much momentum in the market for zero-emission school buses throughout Canada, and Lion is proud to have the opportunity to be part of this large deployment in Ontario in collaboration with a great partner like Langs Bus Lines. We look forward to future deployments of electric school buses in Ontario," Marc Bedard, chief executive officer and founder of Lion Electric, said in a statement. 

Mechanics are also being trained on the new buses so they can work on them if needed. 

"The manufacturer is very good at providing factory training for our maintenance technicians, our mechanics and drivers," Langs said.

Langs employees who are being trained on the buses are excited to be getting new skills, he added. 

"They're buses, and safe for the electric component of it. There's a lot of things very similar there. The electric drive has its own uniqueness to it," Langs said. 

The conversion from diesel to electric is being partly funded by the federal government's Zero-Emission Transit Fund. 

Drivers, mechanics happy

"The drivers are very, very positive. They're excited about the zero-emissions aspect of the vehicles and the very quiet and smooth ride," Langs said. "The students who are riding them have also said that, and the mechanics are looking forward to the opportunity to be trained from the ground up on this new technology. It will impact their trade and profession." 

So far, the electric buses have been doing well in the winter cold and in the stop-and-start of city travel, Langs said. They get charged at the company's London yard. 

While other companies were also part of the 2017 pilot project, Langs is the first in southwestern Ontario to sign on to convert such a large part of their fleet.