ABB fast charging technology to be implemented by UK bus company

Electric charging technology specialist ABB has won a contract to supply three HVC 300P electric bus charging stations for a fleet of Volvo electric buses that will be operated in Harrogate, UK by Transdev Blazefield from 2018. ABB will also supply an electricity substation for installation at a bus station serving the town. The project will use OppCharge for ‘opportunity charging’, where buses are charged while they wait at bus stops at the end of the line equipped with fast-charging infrastructure. The bu
April 25, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Electric charging technology specialist 4540 ABB has won a contract to supply three HVC 300P electric bus charging stations for a fleet of 609 Volvo electric buses that will be operated in Harrogate, UK by 8574 Transdev Blazefield from 2018. ABB will also supply an electricity substation for installation at a bus station serving the town.


The project will use OppCharge for ‘opportunity charging’, where buses are charged while they wait at bus stops at the end of the line equipped with fast-charging infrastructure. The buses will connect automatically to ABB’s HVC 300P chargers, which feature an overhead charging mast that charges via the buses’ on-board pantographs. An advantage is that the HVC 300P units are compatible with the OppCharge interface, so will be compatible with other brands and models of electric buses that use opportunity charging.

Charging will take only three to six minutes, eliminating the need to wait for long charging periods. The technology is the latest that Transdev Blazefield has introduced to reduce emissions and improve other aspects of bus travel. As well as enabling zero emission public transport, opportunity charging allows the size of batteries on board the electric buses to be reduced, reducing the overall weight of the buses and improving the energy efficiency of the bus network.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Pivot Power: 'We need to rethink the EV customer experience'
    October 10, 2018
    Electric vehicles will increasingly become a key part of the mobility mix but charging infrastructure is currently patchy. Adam Hill talks to Matt Allen of Pivot Power about disruption, horses, slot machines – and the importance of customer experience. Electric vehicles (EVs) – including buses, taxis and cars for individual and shared use – are already a common sight on our roads. They are not yet ubiquitous. But that will come. There will be around 30 million electric cars in the world by 2030 (as they
    Read More
  • Asia Pacific expected to lead EV charging station market by 2022
    April 1, 2016
    According to Markets and Markets’ latest market research report, the electric vehicle (EV) charging station market is estimated to reach US$12.61 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 29.8 per cent between 2016 and 2022. Factors which are driving the electric vehicle charging stations market include government subsidies and incentives, increasing use of EVs, and the growing need to reduce carbon emissions. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) categorises battery electric vehicles (BEVs) as zero-emissi
    Read More
  • Volvo and KPMG find buses are key to urban air quality
    September 13, 2016
    Buses can play a key role in the battle to improve air quality in towns and cities as David Crawford discovers. A city with a population of half a million would gain about US$12.3 million in annualised societal savings if all its buses ran on electricity instead of diesel. This is the conclusion of a wide-ranging analysis carried out by Swedish bus manufacturer Volvo Group and global business consultants KPMG.
    Read More
  • Supercapacitors boost electric bus charging
    November 27, 2014
    Israeli defence company Elbit Systems, which will exhibit at the forthcoming Fuel choices Summit in Tel Aviv, is developing an electric bus charging system that would allow vehicles to boost their batteries at terminal stations. There, the buses would connect to supercapacitors that charge the buses quickly so that they can operate for precisely calculated distances, according to the Jerusalem Post. Elbit’s supercapacitors aim to power buses for one full route, allowing them to recharge in the span of le
    Read More

Highlighted Content