This article first appeared in the Bus-News magazine Issue 1 2021.
The decision to switch to electric power brings to light several issues: the size and equipment of depots, the distribution of electric power, the management of recharging times and vehicle downtime and the management of the range and mileage covered by each vehicle.
The challenge is to guarantee the availability of the buses while reducing the costs associated with energy consumption when they are charged at the depot, which in some cases can exceed 250 vehicles. This is where the intelligence of the infrastructure comes into play through the use of smart charging software.
Smart charging distributes the power and charging time of each bus in a co-ordinated way to ensure availability and charging for its next journey. It optimises the total power consumed by the charging installation.
In this way, this solution helps to smooth out the power consumed or to manage the reduction in power consumption during a given period. Smart charging adapts the electrical consumption of the depot according to the tariff reductions of the different electrical energy suppliers and the availability needs of the vehicles. As a result, Smart charging helps to optimise the cost of charging electric vehicles.
Reduction of CAPEX
Opting for smart charging from the beginning of the project is an asset to moderate the expenses related to material investments (CAPEX) and to make savings.
Indeed, as the charging is intelligent, the power requirement at the point of delivery to the electrical network is lower. During installation, the size of the MV substation, the MV-LV transformer and the LV switchboard is reduced, which lowers the investment cost.
This reduction in size also impacts the size of the power cables in the electrical infrastructure, which results in lower material costs such as copper or aluminium.
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