The City of Montreal bought three new zero-emissions electric buses that will start running in March on the 10 km Monk bus line.

According to electrek’s Fred Lambert, the trio of buses were developed in Canada by Saint-Eustache-based Nova Bus in partnership with both Volvo and the Quebec government.

The city will install two quick-charging stations at terminus Angrignon and Square-Victoria and four level 2 charging stations at the Lasalle bus garage. The quick-charging stations will charge the vehicles while in service.

The buses servicing the Monk line will serve at least 3,000 passengers per day, “but a trial run without passengers will apparently start from January to March. From there, the buses will officially be in service,” wrote Lambert.

Nova Bus is part of the Volvo Bus Corporation. It’s a North American provider of sustainable transit solutions, including environmentally-friendly buses.

Here’s the specs for the new machines:

• 3 LFSe 100% electric buses by Nova Bus
• Body/chassis/axles/brakes: LFS
• TM4 electric drive system made in Québec
• 4 batteries – LiFePO4 – 633 volts
• Contact points located on bus rooftop for quick recharging
• Hybrid, diesel/electric heating unit: 23 kW / 7 kW
• Air-conditioning unit: Thermo-King 16 kW
• Maximum speed: 90 km/h
• Audio signal when bus gets underway

Per electrek: “It was developed by a company in Quebec called NOVABUS in partnership with Volvo. They invested $8 million while the government provided the additional $16 million needed to complete the project. The drivetrain was built by TM4, a company owned by Hydro Quebec, a government-owned electric utility.”