Skip to main content

Open interface for electric bus charging

While the European public transport community is preparing for electric buses and standardisation activities have already begun, with European standards expected to come into place 2019, followed by international standards in 2020, many cities are already implementing electric bus systems. In order to meet their needs, European bus manufacturers Irizar, Solaris, VDL and Volvo have agreed with charging system suppliers ABB, Heliox and Siemens to an open, transparent and voluntary approach. Common preferre
March 15, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
While the European public transport community is preparing for electric buses and standardisation activities have already begun, with European standards expected to come into place 2019, followed by international standards in 2020, many cities are already implementing electric bus systems.

In order to meet their needs, European bus manufacturers Irizar, Solaris, VDL and 609 Volvo have agreed with charging system suppliers 4540 ABB, Heliox and 189 Siemens to an open, transparent and voluntary approach. Common preferred interfaces will be opened up for all market participants and will be used for electric buses with opportunity charging (fast charging at end stops) and for overnight charging.

The group is committed to contribute to European standardization activities and to share experiences with standardisation bodies CEN/CENELEC and ISO/IEC in order to establish a common European standard for electric bus systems. The objective is to facilitate the transfer to electric bus systems in cities to ensure reliability and compatibility across bus brands and charging systems.

For opportunity charging, the system includes automatic contacting by a pantograph, wireless communication, contacting plates and infrastructure equipment that automatically contact vehicles with a pantograph. For overnight charging, the fast charging standard for cars (CCS) will be used as a base for the plug and for the communication.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • A fresh approach to electronic fee collection
    July 16, 2012
    The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) is pioneering fresh approaches to Electronic Fee Collection (EFC) deployment in the US. Its new system, operational since January 2009 on all buses and commuter trains, is the country's first full-network rollout of transit e-ticketing technology built on an open-payment network, according to the organisation's Technology Programme Development Manager Craig Roberts.
  • Will standardisation increase ITS interoperability?
    February 1, 2012
    Theoretical balance Kallistratos Dionelis, secretary general of ASECAP, comments on the European Commission's new ICT Standardisation Work Programme. I've just read a proposal from the European Commission on the 2010-2013 ICT Standardisation Work Programme. As ASECAP Secretary General this is one of my responsibilities. I work to receive information, to disseminate information and to build bridges and mutual understanding between policy-makers and the industrial world, between ASECAP and others.
  • Thales builds on Canadian connection for transit R&D
    June 20, 2016
    The Canadian province of Ontario is continuing to benefit from its ongoing investment in transit R&D. David Crawford looks at the impact of new investment. Developing the next generation of urban rail signalling solutions worldwide, with the emphasis on transit security and efficiency, is the goal of a recently-created business partnership between the government of the Canadian province of Ontario and Thales Canada. The wholly-owned subsidiary of the France-HQ'd global defence, aerospace and transportation
  • Vehicle ownership - a thing of the past?
    May 22, 2012
    Convergence of electron-powered vehicles with connected vehicle technologies could mean that only a few decades from now the idea of owning a vehicle will be entirely alien to the road user. By Technolution chief scientist Dave Marples with Jason Barnes Even when taken individually, many of the developments going on and around vehiclebased mobility will bring about major changes in transportation. Taken collectively, the transformations we might expect are nothing short of profound. Enumeration of the influ