Pace Advances Project Zero With North Division Electrification Milestone

Pace Suburban Bus (based in Arlington Heights, IL) recently celebrated the completion of the first phase of a transformative project to modernize its North Division garage into a facility capable of charging a full fleet of battery-electric buses for service in and around Lake County, IL.

A ribbon cutting marked the opening of Pace’s first largescale bus charging depot, featuring 10 pedestal chargers and two overhead pantographs capable of highspeed charging. This new infrastructure is a major step toward Pace’s longterm goal of converting all 60 North Division buses to batteryelectric vehicles.

A recent ribbon cutting marked the opening of Pace’s first largescale bus charging depot. (Photo courtesy of Pace)

Pace Board Member Linda Soto reflected on the rapid progress.

“Today we celebrate a historic milestone: the first phase of converting the infrastructure at North Division to support the operation of a zeroemission fleet. This is quite an accomplishment as we were just here for the groundbreaking of this project in April,” Soto said. “This project reinforces that Pace will deliver on the investments made into our system and with the completion of phase one, we are looking forward to the renovation of this entire facility so we can operate a fully electric fleet here at North Division.”

Phase One was made possible by $12.5 million in Rebuild Illinois funding, which also supported installation of highvoltage electrical equipment, a stormwater detention system, and reconstruction of the division’s parking lot. Additional state and federal funding, including a Community Project Funding grant from Congressman Brad Schneider and a grant from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, is supporting the purchase of electric buses for the fleet.

Pace Executive Director Melinda Metzger added. “Pace is more than just a bus company — it is a community. The people who keep this system running are not just employees; they are part of a family that believes deeply in public service.”

Visit Project Zero and PaceBus.com/project/project-zero.