Public transit agencies across Canada have set goals to replace diesel buses and other vehicles with cleaner powertrains such as electric. With approximately 23,000 urban transit buses and specialized transit vehicles in Canada as of 2022, the shift represents a sizeable opportunity for cost and emissions savings. Still, there are issues to navigate including upfront costs, infrastructure, and change management. This webcast will bring fleet leaders, technology innovators and net zero experts together to provide tactics and solutions to decarbonize public transportation in Canada.
Renée Amilcar
General Manager of Transit Services,
OC Transpo, City of Ottawa
Michael Habouri
National Mobility Segment Leader,
Schneider Electric
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Josipa Petrunic
President & CEO,
CUTRIC
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Petrina Gentile
Automotive Journalist and Contributing Writer, The Globe and Mail
Public transit agencies across Canada have set goals to replace diesel buses and other vehicles with cleaner powertrains such as electric. This panel will bring fleet leaders, technology innovators and net zero experts together to provide tactics and solutions to decarbonize public transportation in Canada.
Schneider Electric is an #ImpactCompany that provides energy and automation solutions to drive efficiency and sustainability. With over 128,000 employees across 100 countries, Schneider Electric’s purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for everyone, everywhere. Schneider Electric combines world-leading digital technologies, real-time automation, software and services into integrated solutions for homes, buildings, data centres, infrastructure and industries. We call this Life Is On.Â
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Renée Amilcar is the General Manager of OC Transpo in Ottawa, Canada, and she was recently elected as the first female President in 138 years of the International Association of Public Transit (UITP), which is a global well respected transit association. She has made a reputation as a global leader in sustainability and innovation in the transportation industry. Her people-first approach and strategic vision is a model for service organizations. Renée is an Industrial Engineer with a degree from École Polytechnique in Montréal, and has a Master of
Business Administration from Université de Sherbrooke. She is also a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec.
Renée’s career in transportation began in 2002 at the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), where she rose the ranks to become the first female Director of Bus Maintenance. In 2014, Renée became STM’s Executive Director of Bus Service, leading a team of more than 5,300 employees and a fleet of 1,800 buses. During this time, she led STM’s electric bus network transformation.
In 2021, Renée joined the City of Ottawa as the first female General Manager of OC Transpo. Renée is overseeing many projects such as the electrification of Ottawa’s transit fleet, including the deployment of 350 zero-emission buses. This initiative will fully convert OC Transpo’s bus fleet to emission-free buses by 2036.
In addition, Renée leads a team responsible for Ottawa’s Stage 2 Light Rail Transit project. This exciting expansion will extend light rail service to the Ottawa International Airport and bring light rail within 5km of the homes of nearly 80 percent of Ottawa residents. Renée implemented a robust marketing and recruitment campaign to address current and future staffing and ridership needs.
As a versatile executive professional with 16+ years of experience in the Energy, Transportation, and Automotive industries, Michael has led impactful initiatives shaping these sectors.
Currently, as Schneider Electric's National Mobility Segment Leader, Michael drives the Canadian Mobility strategy, sales & deployment of Schneider Electric’s end-to-end portfolio for the Automotive, E-Mobility and Transportation segments in Canada. His commitment to excellence ensures exceptional performance, guiding initiatives for automotive and EV battery manufacturers, fleet and network operators, transit authorities, airports, ports, railways, Urban Public Transportation infrastructures, and more. In his previous roles, Michael has been a trusted advisor, shaping Renewable Energy, Sustainability, and Carbon reduction initiatives
As the President & CEO of CUTRIC, Dr. Josipa Petrunic is leading the formulation of national transportation and energy systems analyses, including battery electric vehicles (BEV), hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and zero-emissions transit technologies.
As one of Canada’s leading experts in Zero-Emissions Bus (ZEB) innovation deployment projects, Dr. Petrunic has designed, developed and launched the Pan-Canadian Electric Bus Demonstration & Integration Trial (Phases I-II), the Pan-Canadian Hydrogen Fuel Cell Demonstration & Integration Trial (Phase I) and the Canadian National Smart Vehicle Demonstration & Integration Trial (Phase I).
In 2014, Dr. Petrunic developed Canada’s first methodological framework for an interdisciplinary physics-, mathematics- and economics-based modelling tool. TRiPSIM™, Canada’s first electric bus modelling tool, helps Canadian public fleets determine how zero-emissions vehicles (ZEVs) would operate in their communities and the extent to which they would generate operational savings. Now in its third generation and branded as Rout∑.i™ 2.0, more than two dozen transit agencies in Canada and the United States have relied on it to plan their full-fleet, vehicle- and block-based electrification deployments.
Dr. Petrunic has created Canada’s most interdisciplinary ZEB Consulting Team specializing in all salient variables associated with battery electric bus (BEB) powertrains, hydrogen fuel cell electric bus (FCEB) powertrains, renewable natural gas-powered compressed natural gas (CNG) powertrains, low- and high-powered charging systems, energy storage, smart controls, scheduling optimization, lifecycle cost analyses (LCAs), lifecycle emissions analyses, and facilities design.
Petrina Gentile is an award-winning automotive journalist -- one of the few women who cover cars in Canada. Petrina has been writing for The Globe and Mail’s Drive section since 2004. She also covers the automotive beat for CTV NewsChannel on her bi-weekly national segment called "Up to Speed" and has appeared on CP24, CBC, and BNN Bloomberg TV. She produced 18 seasons of the national TV show Car/Business with Jeremy Cato and Michael Vaughan, which was broadcast weekly on CTV and BNN. She has written several non-fiction books for kids including "Big Trucks, Big Wheels," "Dirt Movers," and "The Ballet School." Before focusing on cars, she was a news writer at CTV and a producer at BNN. She has a Master of Journalism (MJ) from Carleton University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Waterloo.
