PALO ALTO, January 31, 2017 – David Heurtel, the Québec Minister of Sustainable
Development, Environment and the Fight against Climate Change and Tyson
Eckerle, Deputy Director of Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Infrastructure at the
California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz),
today unveiled the eLion electric school bus in Palo Alto. The eLion, the first
Type C electric school bus manufactured in North America, uses a technology
developed and funded in part by proceeds from the Québec cap-and-trade program
which is linked with the California program.
“I applaud the leadership of Lion bus, which has
literally redefined school bus standards with its eLion and has quickly emerged
as a North American leader in the field,” said Minister Heurtel “Transportation
electrification is among the promising solutions for fighting climate change
and modernizing Québec’s economy. This is why our government
is proud to allocate income from the carbon market, through Québec’s Green
Fund, to support innovative companies like Lion Bus that allow us to take yet
another step toward a modern, sustainable and low-carbon economy for our own
well-being and the well-being of our children.”
At today's event, GO-Biz deputy director Eckerle and Lion Bus President Marc
Bédard announced that with help from GO-Biz, the Canadian bus manufacturer
plans to locate a new manufacturing facility in California. The state will help
Lion find a location for the new facility as they ramp up production.
“GO-Biz is proud to partner with Lion Bus to help bring a new electric bus
manufacturing facility to California and help meet Governor Brown’s goal of
putting 1.5 million zero emission vehicles on the road by 2025,” said deputy
director Eckerle. “The eLion Type C electric school bus demonstrates that we
can dramatically improve the health of our children by deploying zero emission
vehicles where it matters most, at home and at our schools.”
The eLion provides an example of how the two regions’ leadership and
collaboration on climate change is driving economic growth through clean tech
investment and innovation. Since the launch of their cap-and-trade programs in
2013, Québec and California have provided more than $5.5 billion for
initiatives and technologies financed through Québec’s Green Fund and
California’s Greenhouse Gas Fund. Many of the investments target innovations in
transportation, since this sector is the largest single contributor of
greenhouse gas emissions in both California and Québec.
America's school buses travel about four billion miles each year, burning
through over 800 million gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel. A 2001
California study found that the level of diesel exhaust could be up to four
times greater than in cars and up to eight times greater than the statewide average
air level. As the U.S. EPA points out, exhaust from these buses has a
negative impact on human health, especially for children who have a faster
breathing rate than adults and whose lungs are not yet fully developed.
The eLion was developed by Québec-based Lion Bus and is emblematic of the
region’s fast growing electric vehicle industry. Zero emission school buses are
attracting strong interest from school districts because they make the planet
cleaner and provide healthier air for children, whose developing lungs are
especially vulnerable to vehicle emissions. Zero-emission buses also
benefit from incentive purchase funding made possible by Québec and
California’s cap-and-trade programs, which aims to help bring technologies like
the eLion to communities most in need of pollution relief.
California and Québec have linked their respective cap-and-trade programs to
create the only carbon market in the world that is designed, developed and
operated by sub-national governments from different countries. With the
province of Ontario expected to join in 2018, the market will soon represent a
population of 62 million and a GDP of more than $3.7 trillion. As this
carbon market continues to grow, the pool of technical expertise offered by
participating regions will likewise expand, helping bring to market even more
innovations and solutions for the fight against climate change.
About the Québec Green Fund
For Québec, all the proceeds from its share of the carbon market goes to its
Green Fund and are earmarked for the financing of the different initiatives
contained in the 2013-2020 Climate Change Action Plan, which aim at reducing
GHG emissions and at helping Québec society adapt to the impacts of climate
change.
About the California Governor’s Office of Business and
Economic Development (GO-Biz)
The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) was created
by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. to serve as California’s single point of
contact for economic development and job creation efforts. GO-Biz offers a
range of services to business owners including: attraction, retention and
expansion services, site selection, permit assistance, regulatory guidance,
small business assistance, international trade development, assistance with
state government, and much more.
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