ST-EUSTACHE - The provincial government is charging up a movement to build electric buses.
On Wednesday Premier Jean Charest announced Quebec will invest $30 million in a pilot project to build two electric buses.
Private investors will provide another $33 million for the project, which will be run by a group called the Electric Bus Consortium.
The consortium hopes to build one full-sized city bus and a second microbus in the next two years, each with an aluminum frame and body.
"The idea is that the aluminum is green, the energy, the electric energy that goes into it is clean and renewable," said Charest.
The premier says the two-year project will employ at least 100 people and in the long term will contribute to reducing greenhouse gases in Quebec.
"Through the whole chain of production we're going to produce the greenest vehicle in the world."
The Consortium for the full-sized bus is composed of six companies: Nova Bus, Bathium Canada, TM4, Giro, Rene Materiaux Composites and Precicad.
Infodev, StyleTech and Structures CPI are teaming up to build the microbus.
