PSIebus Controls E-Bus Fleet at the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe BVG
- Depot and charging management assures optimal vehicle availability
PSI Transcom GmbH has been commissioned by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG – Berlin Transport Authority) with the delivery of the PSIebus depot and charging management system. In the future, the system will dispatch, monitor and control the vehicles. BVG is continuing to push ahead with the electrification of its bus fleet and put its hundredth electrically driven bus into operation in October 2020. By the end of the year, 137 e-buses and by 2022 around 230 e-vehicles are to be in passenger service.
The PSIebus depot and charging management system will initially coordinate and schedule the vehicles at the Indira Gandhi Street depot and ensure that all buses are reliably prepared for operation at the start of their route. All depot processes from vehicle location, parking, supply and workshop, driver registration and vehicle allocation will be mapped in a digital system.
The disposition of the vehicles takes place within a few seconds and is based on PSI’s optimization software Qualicision, which determines the best possible solution in real time based on the operational conditions. For an optimal result, not only the vehicle and route characteristics are taken into account but also time-relevant variables such as weather data for that day. The system also includes factors such as the remaining range, the charging status and the required time in the charge planning.
The integrated PSI charging management controls the entire energy demand of the depot and monitors and controls the individual charging devices. Expensive peak loads are avoided and the specifications of the network operator are taken into account. The new system enables the BVG to make optimal use of its vehicles and charging infrastructure and ensures the best possible vehicle availability.
Torsten Vogel, Managing Director of PSI Transcom, said:We are proud that we can now also make a significant contribution to climate-neutral public transport in our home city of Berlin. We have already successfully demonstrated our role as a pioneer in the field of e-mobility at the Hamburger Hochbahn AG. There the system is in use at Germany's largest depot for e-buses. It is currently being rolled out at other companies, including Keolis in France.
The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) is the largest public transport company in Germany and operates local public transportation in Berlin and the surrounding area with subways, streetcars and buses.
Based on its own software products, PSI Group develops and integrates complete solutions for optimizing the flow of energy and material for utilities (energy networks, energy trading, public transport) and industry (metals production, automotive, mechanical engineering, logistics). PSI was founded in 1969 and employs 2,000 persons worldwide.
This article was originally published by PSI Transcom GmbH.
