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Friday Fallback Story: Quebec-Based Letenda to Produce Hydrogen Buses for Edmonton International Airport

By August 26, 2022 4   min read  (673 words)

August 26, 2022 |

Fuel Cells Works, Friday Fallback Story: Quebec-Based Letenda to Produce Hydrogen Buses for Edmonton International Airport
  • Partnership with Quebec-based Letenda and Japan’s Mitsui brings new testing.

(Edmonton, AB) – Emissions-free, hydrogen-powered buses will be launched at Edmonton International Airport (EIA) in the first step towards building advanced manufacturing and a distribution centre for Western Canada.

EIA has signed an agreement with Letenda, a Quebec-based manufacturer that currently builds all-electric buses, and with Mitsui, a Japanese global leader in multiple industries. The agreement will see the airport serve as a testing location for a new kind of mass transit powered 100 per cent by hydrogen fuel. The agreement was announced as part of the Canadian Hydrogen Convention and supports the growing Edmonton Metropolitan Hydrogen Hub.

In 2024, the hydrogen buses will be used in EIA’s fleet of shuttle buses that operate within the Airport City Sustainability Campus and as parking shuttles for passengers parked at EIA. The airport ecosystem will provide real-world experience and a demonstration point for the technology. In the longer-term, Letenda will look to build an excellence and testing facility in the Airport City Sustainability Campus which will act as a Hydrogen Centre of Excellence, service and parts distribution centre for all Western Canada. This will be supported by EIA’s cargo infrastructure development and the Port Alberta Foreign Trade Zone. Letenda will look to take advantage of renewable power from Airport City Solar, which is slated to begin construction this year.

“We are excited to partner with Letenda to launch their hydrogen buses at EIA. Our airport is committed to decarbonizing transportation, and we believe this will be a vital technology to help us achieve our net-zero goals. We hope to use our Airport City Sustainability Campus to drive the demand for hydrogen vehicles and fuel development. EIA is a living lab to test new technologies like autonomous systems and on-demand services, but this ties into our strong focus on clean technology to advance our efforts to reduce emissions and decarbonize our fleets.”

-Myron Keehn, Vice President, Air Service, Business Development, ESG and Government Relations, EIA

“We are proud to have reached an agreement with the Edmonton International Airport for the development and deployment of hydrogen buses and shuttles. This new line of buses adapted to Canadian winter conditions will be a variation of our leading product, the Electrip, powered by hydrogen. We are also looking forward to being part of the Airport City Sustainability Campus, and to actively participate in building a clean growth economy by innovating in sustainable public transit and carbon neutral shuttles such as ours. This project is well aligned with our core values of innovation, sustainability, and collaboration.”

-Nicolas Letendre, President and CEO of Letenda

EIA currently operates 10 shuttle buses as part of its fleet. The amount of hydrogen buses that will be piloted will be determined later this year. For more information on this and EIA’s slate of hydrogen announcements, please visit flyeia.com/hydrogen.

About Edmonton International Airport

Edmonton International Airport (EIA) is a self-funded, not-for-profit corporation driving economic

prosperity for the Edmonton Metropolitan Region. EIA is Canada’s fifth-busiest airport by passenger traffic and the largest major Canadian airport by land area. EIA’s Airport City Sustainability Campus is home to companies focused on tourism, entertainment, cargo logistics, manufacturing, sustainability, and technology development and commercialization. As a result, EIA generated an economic output of over

$3.2 billion and supported over 26,000 jobs pre-pandemic. At its core, EIA believes equity and diversity is a strength and creating an inclusive space is both a privilege and is a fundamental responsibility. flyeia.com

About Letenda

Letenda is a Quebec-based zero-emission bus manufacturer founded in 2016 and propelled by its values of sustainability, innovation and collaborative spirit. Letenda works with all industry stakeholders to build a sustainable business and a product that is tailored to the needs of operators and passengers. Letenda’s Electrip bus innovates through its superior energy efficiency, its unique geometry specially developed for electric propulsion and its manufacturing concept inspired by the aeronautics industry. www.letenda.com

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