Siemens launches interoperable electric bus charger

Siemens has launched an interoperable charging infrastructure for e-buses which capable of charging buses from different manufacturers. German public transport operator Hamburger Hochbahn is to begin operation of three additional e-buses on its ‘innovation line’ 109. The battery-powered buses built by Polish company Solaris will be charged at the same Siemens charging stations that also power the plug-in hybrid buses from Volvo which have been serving Hamburg since the end of 2014. The three buses fr
August 22, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
189 Siemens has launched an interoperable charging infrastructure for e-buses which capable of charging buses from different manufacturers.

German public transport operator Hamburger Hochbahn is to begin operation of three additional e-buses on its ‘innovation line’ 109. The battery-powered buses built by Polish company Solaris will be charged at the same Siemens charging stations that also power the plug-in hybrid buses from 609 Volvo which have been serving Hamburg since the end of 2014.

The three buses from Solaris are equipped with a Siemens onboard charging system designed for the quick-charge stations. Having both the onboard equipment and charging infrastructure provided by one supplier not only ensures interoperability, but also harmonises the systems based on open international standards. By equipping the buses with Siemens charging equipment, vehicles of every type and from different manufacturers can easily be integrated into one system.

Each of the two charging terminals has a capacity of 300 kW and two charging stations. The stations can provide the buses with enough energy to enable them to operate a full day from terminal to terminal on line 109. The charging operation takes only around six minutes.

The charging process uses open international standards IEC 61851 and ISO 15118 that are the basis for e-bus charging systems. These enable vehicles from different manufacturers to use the same charging system. This solution allows operators to select their e-buses independently of the charging infrastructure and ensures their interoperability.

Related Content

  • January 23, 2012
    Tunnel simulators vital for real world tunnel management
    Guillaume Ponsar, tunnel safety engineer with Egis Road Operation, writes about the advantages to be gained from the use of tunnel simulators. Major tunnel disasters over the last decade and more have shown how swiftly and badly a simple crash or fire may evolve should the wrong actions be taken by control room operators or traffic managers. Global safety issues and the reactions of operations staff have now become the principal concerns for Operations and Maintenance (O&M) service providers. As a result, n
    Read More
  • August 1, 2012
    Simplifying enforcement systems type approval
    Martyn Harriss looks at what we can do to simplify the type approval of enforcement equipment in Europe. I doubt that there are many who can remember the days when policemen hid in the bushes with stopwatches and flags to catch speeding motorists - and I'd suggest that back then there were few who were caught who would have dared question the accuracy of those watches or those who operated them. Probably, fewer still here in Europe could have dreamt that a supranational body such as the European Union (EU)
    Read More
  • July 23, 2012
    Towards common standards for cooperative road infrastructures
    Michael Noblett of Connexis discusses international progress towards common standards for cooperative road infrastructures. Will vehicle safety communications standards be able to support ITS on the international level, or will we settle once again for regional interoperability only? The answer lies in the current status of the draft standards themselves, and the requirements users and authorities are placing on the people who draft them.
    Read More
  • December 16, 2013
    Smart phones offer smarter way to pay for travel
    David Crawford reviews developments in near field communications for mass transit payments. ‘A carefully-designed and well-implemented mobile near field communications (NFC) solutions can give passengers a compelling experience that will encourage them to make greater use of public transport.’ That was the confident conclusion of a recent joint White Paper drawn up by the International Association of Public Transport and the global mobile operators’ representative group GSMA.
    Read More

Highlighted Content