ABB has been awarded a contract by the Reutlingen city transport authority Reutlinger Stadtverkehr (RSV) to equip its new E-Bus depot, comprising 10 depot charging stations, with its smart charging energy management solution, Energy Management for Sites - OPTIMAX® for Smart Charging.
Helping Reutlingen to realize its dream of schedule-based fully automatic charging of e-buses, the company is removing the complexity of incorporating electric buses into existing diesel operations for transport operators.
Leveraging ABB’s smart charging solution, RSV can now replicate its existing bus operations with an electric fleet and e-depot, through ABB’s system that controls and visualizes all aspects of the charging process. Delivering real-time information on the performance of charging infrastructure and status of the charging process, OPTIMAX® prioritizes the charging of e-buses based on bus timetables, ensuring each bus is fully charged in advance of its next journey.
Mark Hogenmüller, Managing Director of RSV, said:
ABB's expertise was a key success factor, as was their willingness to collaborate and work with us to find solutions to meet our complete needs. We were able to address and solve many technically complex questions together, resulting in a turnkey solution that encompasses everything from managing our charging infrastructure, to ensuring intelligent energy optimization and enabling individual daily pre-conditioning of our vehicles.
Dirk Stevens, Head of Sales for OPTIMAX® at ABB, explains: "OPTIMAX® provides fully automatic control combined with schedule-related intelligence. Bus timetables can be programmed in, and OPTIMAX® can then charge the buses on the basis of this data.” By employing a predictive and dynamic load management system in this way, RSV can manage power use, avoid overloading the power grid and reduce energy costs.
Stevens continued: “Intelligent charging can reduce peak loads by about 55%. This prevents grid connections from being exceeded and negates the need for grid extensions, helping connections remain comparatively small. The knock-on effect is reduced capital investment required for extensions and lower operational expenditure for the customer.”
The solution also integrates and optimizes energy flows from generation, storage to consumption. This opens up the opportunity to incorporate more renewable energy sources into the operations process, including power generation from solar panels installed on a depot roof. Commited to finding more energy efficienct solutions for industry, ABB is leading the way in the development of sustainable mobility and smart city transport solutions, with the aim of reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality for all.
ABB Energy Management for Sites - OPTIMAX® for Smart Charging is a fully scalable solution and can integrate any number of depots and charging points into one central control room.
