Here’s why e-Buses in Madrid are Ditching Wired Charging

in our fast -moving world buses have remained the most popular form of public transportation across the globe and as authorities consider green options to improve air quality their electrification has become key to learn more about what electrification involves in terms of infrastructure and investment we visited the municipal transportation company of Madrid or EMT which has been testing different systems in the past decade we will look at the challenges they faced with wired charging that led them to recently adopt the inverted pantograph charging system with a project that comes at a cost of over 150 million euros in vehicles and infrastructure for its E -fleet the EMT began with wire charging which consists of a physical connection between the vehicle and the charging point via a cable and a connector this type of charging takes place at the depot where buses recharge their batteries overnight wire charging is the market's most mature method it's simple to install and costs around 50 000 euros making it less expensive than other systems it does however have some disadvantages the connectors are not interoperable because each owner has their own at a maximum power of 200 kilowatts the charging process is lengthy and manual to eliminate human intervention from the process in 2018 the emt conducted a pilot on one of its lines with two induction charging points one at the beginning and one at the end of the route this opportunity charging approach allows buses to recharge their batteries on the road during operating time inductive charging looks like wireless phone charging the bus is positioned on top of the charging pad which through magnetic induction transfers energy to the vehicle The lack of underground space in Madrid necessary to accommodate inductive charging systems and the lack of maturity of the technology were among the reasons why this system was ruled out. As soon as the network of electric vehicles has been operating, it is necessary to be able to systems that can be able to automate the load, eliminating the intervention of the conductor. Therefore, for that reason MT opts for the nocturnal load by the Pantógrafo Invertido. The first project that is going to be developed in that sense is the Fuencarral project, which is based on the automation of 20 points of load by Pantógrafo Invertido for 20 autobuses, in which is intended to test all types of technologies that exist. In a Panto -Up system, a pantograph is located on the roof of a bus, and when the vehicle is in the charging position, the device is uplifted and connected to a receiver. The main disadvantage of this system is that the device adds weight, lowers the aerodynamics of the bus, and is exposed to weather conditions and light, so wear and tear will happen. faster. As the name explains, the inverted pantograph, which is being adopted by the EMT, works the other way round. The pantograph is mounted on a structure and when the bus is in the correct position, it is lowered to attach to two connections on the vehicle's With the automated load of the pantograph, the driver will not have any intervention, that is, he will only get to park his vehicle under the pantograph and he will receive an indication on the display that the vehicle is well positioned. From there, the system would be responsible for everything else. Therefore, for us, it reduces driving times and, above all, operations in the factory. At a power of up to 600 kilowatts, the inverted pantograph enables fast charging, and the system offers interoperability. The Municipal Transport Company is installing stem and pantographs. Today, the EMT can operate buses from three different manufacturers, BYD, Solaris, and Iriza. The price for an Pantograph charging point is around 93 ,629 euros and the price of a 12 -meter bus that is compatible with this charging system sits at around half a million, which is in line with the cost of other types of e-buses. But the idea is that this charging system is standardised in MT. Not only at the level of new cars, like the Elipa car, which will have 318 points of charging with this new technology. but in the future, in the long term, the car of the tablets, which will also have about 20% of 100% electric vehicles with this same load system, but also in the operations centers that you need to modify to assume that new electric fleet, you will have to prepare the installation and the infrastructure to provide the invertive pantographs and loaders. When it comes to electrification, infrastructure always requires most of the works. It changes infrastructure. It is also determined by the charge mode. We will have to build big marques, in some way, bridges to store the carriers and the inverted pantographs. At the level of the fleet, the European standards of construction of vehicles already have the assembly of the pantographs. There are two bars on the roof of the bus. Each city is different, and therefore, each must adapt to its best charging option. Cities with plenty of underground space, will be able to use opportunity charging like induction whereas for cities like Madrid depot conductive charging at the operations centre is a safer bet. To learn more about the latest on mobility and other smart city initiatives remember follow current insights.