Skip to main content

Belgian cities opt for Volvo electric buses

Volvo Buses has secured a major order for electric buses from Belgian public transport company TEC Group, which has ordered 90 Volvo 7900 Electric Hybrid buses and 12 charging stations to be deployed in the cities of Charleroi and Namur. The charging stations will be supplied by ABB. Volvo's electric hybrids and ABB's fast-charging systems are based on a common interface known as OppCharge, which enables the charging stations to also be used by electrified buses from other vehicle manufacturers. OppCharg
February 10, 2017 Read time: 1 min
609 Volvo Buses has secured a major order for electric buses from Belgian public transport company TEC Group, which has ordered 90 Volvo 7900 Electric Hybrid buses and 12 charging stations to be deployed in the cities of Charleroi and Namur. The charging stations will be supplied by ABB.

Volvo's electric hybrids and ABB's fast-charging systems are based on a common interface known as OppCharge, which enables the charging stations to also be used by electrified buses from other vehicle manufacturers. OppCharge is now being implemented as a common interface in more than 12 countries.

The Volvo 7900 electric hybrid bus operates quietly and exhaust emission-free on electricity for about 70 per cent of its route. Battery recharging takes three to four minutes via OppCharge opportunity charging, which uses a specialist overhead mast connected to the bus via a pantograph.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • EETS: still struggling to become reality
    December 4, 2013
    Erich Erker, Norbert Schindler, Peter Tschulik from Siemens Electronic Tolling examine the barriers to EETS deployment. Tolling in Europe was introduced to pay for the construction and operation of individual tunnels, bridges and highways and has evolved in major steps. The original manual tolling systems were highly disruptive to traffic flow and required the creation of large toll plazas, with multiple lanes and toll booths to ensure an acceptable throughput. With the introduction of Dedicated Short Range
  • Consortium to study UK eHighway feasibility 
    August 11, 2021
    Partners including Siemens hope overhead electricity lines will serve major roads by 2030s
  • Videalert: Bath experience highlights joined-up thinking
    August 7, 2019
    Councils can achieve greater value with multi-purpose traffic enforcement and management platforms, says Tim Daniels of Videalert. But UK authorities could also help deliver solutions by committing to ‘joined up thinking’... Joined-up thinking’ used to be a commonly related governmental phrase and implied a commitment to looking at elements of a problem to deliver a holistic solution. However, the way that successive governments have addressed major issues has demonstrated their inability to achieve join
  • UK Government funding for plug-in vehicle infrastructure
    February 27, 2015
    A wave of charge-points to support the fast-growing popularity of plug-in vehicles will be installed across the UK after the government set out US$49 million of infrastructure support up to 2020. Homes, hospitals, train stations and A-roads will be some of the locations for further charge-points to maintain Britain’s position as a global leader in this cutting-edge technology. The support compliments the fast-growing popularity of ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs) with grant claims rising four-fold in 20