Volvo Group and Société de transport de Montréal in strategic partnership: Montréal to become city of Electro Mobility

Montréal, November 22, 2013 - Volvo Group’s North American division, Nova Bus, and the Société de transport de Montréal have entered into an agreement on an electrification project for the public transit system of Montréal, Canada. Nova Bus and STM signed a Memorandum of Understanding today in the presence of Québec Premier Pauline Marois, Olof Persson, CEO and President of Volvo Group and Michel Labrecque, Chairman of the STM board of directors.

This strategic partnership aims to make Montréal a leading city with innovative solutions for electric transit. It is in line with the Government of Québec’s Transportation Electrification Strategy, STM’s strategic plan for 2020 to significantly lessen its ecological print and the City of Montréal’s target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% in 2020 (compared to 1990 levels).

Montréal will be the first city in North America to take part in the Volvo Group City Mobility program. This program brings together key players to implement sustainable and integrated innovative pilot projects. The City Mobility program includes new technologies for improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions, developed by Volvo, such as hybrid and electric vehicles.

The City Mobility project in Montréal will see STM put three pre-production, fully electric Nova LFSe buses into service by late 2015 for out-of-service testing. The buses’ autonomy will be increased thanks to a conductive quick-charge system (two charging stations at route end points). The LFSe will then be run in service on an existing STM route with average travel time and fairly dense traffic. In-service tests will stretch out over a three-year period, from 2016 to 2018 inclusively. Charging stations will be installed at route end points to enable electric buses to recharge at the end of each line.

“We are proud to strengthen our partnership with STM and welcome the efforts of the Government of Québec for the electrification of transit in Montréal,” says Olof Persson, CEO and President Volvo Group. “We have developed the City Mobility Program to work with government and city authorities around the world to solve the urban transportation challenges and offer efficient, safe and environmentally-friendly solutions.”

“The STM strives to become the best public transit authority in the world in its category,” says Michel Labrecque, Chairman of the STM board of directors.

“To do so, we adopted our 2020 Strategic Plan back in 2010, with one of its objectives being the electrification of our surface network. As a result, we are progressively replacing our fleet of 1,700 diesel buses, first with hybrid buses, then by electric ones. With the help of the Government of Québec, we will also be deploying our first trolleybus lines. To ensure we purchase only electric vehicles starting in 2025, we must be on the leading edge of research and development in the field. Our active participation in this type of demonstration project enables us to test new technologies in real operating conditions and to assess their impact on planning, operations, maintenance, and above all, the improvement of customer service. This is also our way of contributing to the greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets of the Government of Québec and the City of Montréal.”

The deployment of the City Mobility Program is in progress in several cities around the world, such as Gothenburg, Stockholm, Hamburg and Luxembourg.

“The Volvo Group has an in-depth understanding of complete transport solutions for sustainable cities, and we are pleased to share our expertise with our partners in Montréal.  Together we can build an entirely new mode of travel,” says Olof Persson.

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For further information, please contact:

Karin Wik, Volvo Group
Phone: +46 (0) 31-3231020

Nadine Bernard, Nova Bus
Phone : +1 450 974-6053

Odile Paradis, Société de transport de Montréal
Phone :  +1 514  280-5645