York Region deal for two 9-metre vehicles is a result of winning Ontario procurement process, possibly leading to more deals

Letenda, an electric bus manufacturer based in Longueuil, Que., has announced a major step with its first sale in Ontario to York Region Transit, which will take possession of two 9-metre Electrip buses next year. 

Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

The sale is a result of the company winning a procurement process with Metrolinx, Ontario’s public transit agency, which represents 55 municipalities in the province. 

“This is our market entry into Canada for public transit,” said Nicolas Letendre, the founder and CEO of Letenda, in an interview with Electric Autonomy Canada.

Letenda was awarded the Metrolinx General Contract in September 2025. Letendre says he is now looking at other Ontario cities interested in electric, medium-size buses and Belleville, he says, is next on the list. 

“We are getting traction in Canada,” said Letendre.  “The Metrolinx [procurement] … is a big milestone for us.”

The York municipal transit deal is not Letenda’s first sale. It signed a $1.35 million contract earlier this year with Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, with delivery of a bus coming next year.

Getting it right

Letendre founded the company in 2016 to fill a gap for mid-size, all-electric buses, not just for municipal transit but also as airport and corporate shuttles.

He explained that it took 10 years to develop a completely new type of bus, all the while learning and aligning plans with what customers were looking for in the market. Letenda started with cardboard and wooden mockups, found technical partners and later moved to a rolling prototype. Then came the vehicle certification tests in Canada and the U.S. using the company’s single prototype. 

Letendre said it was important to have everything done right with a due process. 

“You need to to show that you have a product,” he said. “You want to be very effective with the money you spend, the investment you get.”

A new kind of bus

The company’s Electrip bus is a clean-sheet design, with the wheels mounted all the way to each corner for more interior room, as well as keeping the entry door behind the front wheels instead of in front like conventional buses. 

The 9-metre bus is also designed for winter performance, with an insulated battery to help with range, as well as efficient in-floor heating and heated windshield surfaces. 

With a 350-kWh battery, the Electrip can get between 250 and 300 kilometres per charge. 

To date, Letenda has done two demonstration projects with municipal transit operations in Vancouver and Montreal using its prototype.

The U.S. market

Letendre says his company has also won procurement contracts in Washington State and Colorado, making Letenda eligible for sales with transit organizations in those states. 

The next step is to build a sales force for those regions, but due to political uncertainty,  Letendre feels no rush.

“With the focus in Canada, we are less exposed to tariffs,” he said. 

“We have enough in Canada to work on to start and initiate our deliveries.”

Ramping up production 

Letendre says its major suppliers and other partners have been chosen, and now with the York Region sale, he has plans for a slow but steady ramp-up of production.

“We start with a small volume, because we know introducing a new vehicle can generate some risk,” said Letendre. 

“Our plan over five years is to reach over 100 buses sold and delivered per year.”