Powering regional bus service in Austria

Customer Case Study

Powering regional bus service in Austria

8 Buses
2.1 MW
Weinviertel, Austria
CCS
Pantograph Charging

©VOR-J. Bollwein, 2022.

Challenge

The transport association "VerkehrsverbundOst-Region" (VOR) has awarded the bus company Österreichische Postbus AG the contract to electrify two regional bus lines in the southern Weinviert district of Lower Austria. It is a public transport hub connecting the stations of Gänserndorf, Wolkersdorfand Mistelbach. EVN works with Heliox to create a charging solution for the electric buses. To operate the regional bus service in the southern Weinviert, charging facilities must be set up at three different sites. At all sites CCS charging is implemented. At one site, opportunity charging via a pantograph must be set up.

Solution

Heliox has delivered three Flex 360 chargers and eight Flex 180 chargers, enabling all eight eCitaro buses in use on the routes to charge overnight. While the slope of the parking area was expected to make opportunity charging difficult, Heliox's experience in mast construction enabled the installation of 300 kW pantographs that offer rapid charging via contact hood. The charging solutions are all connected to the Carmedia backend which is used for monitoring, control and data recording.

Results
Highest Uptime
Zero Emissions
1500 passengers per day

Energieversorgung Niederösterreich AG (EVN) is the largest electricity, gas and heat supplier in Lower Austria and, as a pioneer in electromobility, offers comprehensive solutions and advice for private customers, companies and municipalities. EVN is the largest charge point operator in Lower Austria and has established their first charging solution for electric buses in Lower Austria together with Heliox. Since September 2022, every day 1,400 passengers have been transported electrically. In this way, 1,300,000 km are travelled annually in a climate-friendly way, and 919 tons of CO2are saved.

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Project Description

Heliox and TU/e ​​aim to develop an integrated solution that makes charging heavy electric vehicles accessible without negative consequences for local electricity networks. Together, we want to achieve this by developing and demonstrating a new, multiple and dynamic charging system for heavy electric vehicles that is equipped with software-controlled stabilization to absorb disturbances on the local energy grid.

The intended system will consist of a dynamically configurable charging system based on modules that can be connected in parallel, each with three 60 kW outputs. With this they want to be able to distribute the loading capacity dynamically over several vehicles. The charging system can therefore be used for opportunity charging up to 360 kW for a single vehicle as well as for regular charging of several vehicles.

In addition, smart software and a microcontroller board are being developed. The converter of the charging system can be used via this software to compensate for grid disturbances. The disturbances are neutralized via a low impedance path. This allows losses on the grid to be converted into usable energy, while improving the voltage quality of the grid. In fact, the system completely takes over the function of current power filters on the basis of smart control.

The transport association "VerkehrsverbundOst-Region" (VOR) has awarded the bus company Österreichische Postbus AG the contract to electrify two regional bus lines in the southern Weinviert district of Lower Austria. It is a public transport hub connecting the stations of Gänserndorf, Wolkersdorfand Mistelbach. EVN works with Heliox to create a charging solution for the electric buses. To operate the regional bus service in the southern Weinviert, charging facilities must be set up at three different sites. At all sites CCS charging is implemented. At one site, opportunity charging via a pantograph must be set up.

Heliox has delivered three Flex 360 chargers and eight Flex 180 chargers, enabling all eight eCitaro buses in use on the routes to charge overnight. While the slope of the parking area was expected to make opportunity charging difficult, Heliox's experience in mast construction enabled the installation of 300 kW pantographs that offer rapid charging via contact hood. The charging solutions are all connected to the Carmedia backend which is used for monitoring, control and data recording.

Highest Uptime
Zero Emissions
1500 passengers per day

Energieversorgung Niederösterreich AG (EVN) is the largest electricity, gas and heat supplier in Lower Austria and, as a pioneer in electromobility, offers comprehensive solutions and advice for private customers, companies and municipalities. EVN is the largest charge point operator in Lower Austria and has established their first charging solution for electric buses in Lower Austria together with Heliox. Since September 2022, every day 1,400 passengers have been transported electrically. In this way, 1,300,000 km are travelled annually in a climate-friendly way, and 919 tons of CO2are saved.

Download our electric truck report