One of New Zealand’s largest bus operators Go Bus has chosen electric charging infrastructure from global technology giant Siemens to power 34 buses at depots in Christchurch and Auckland. The charging infrastructure will support 25 electric buses in Christchurch, the city’s first large-scale electric bus fleet and nine buses in Auckland that will operate on a new electric airport link. The operations are scheduled to start in early 2021.
The ‘Sicharge UC eBus’ charging infrastructure will help New Zealand’s sustainability goals as the country looks to electrification of the transport sector to reduce carbon footprint. The city of Auckland, for example, aims to have a full zero emission bus fleet by 2040. In addition to this recent win, Siemens has had a history of helping modernise New Zealand’s infrastructure and making it more sustainable, having worked with KiwiRail on the electrification and re–signalling of Auckland’s urban rail network.
“As a national bus operator, Go Bus needs to be agile and adapt to many fast-moving changes when transitioning to electric bus transport,” said Calum Haslop, CEO of Go Bus. “It’s also important that any investments we make now, take into account rapid advances in battery technology and digitalization. Siemens’ independent charging infrastructure and management software provides us with the most future-proof solutions and flexibility.”
The Siemens Sicharge UC range grants bus operators optimal flexibility when planning electric bus depots, by providing highly efficient infrastructure that is designed to be future proofed against rapid advances in battery technology, as well as enable bus operators to economically expand charging infrastructure with up to five dispensers plus a pantograph per charging centre.
Jeff Connolly, CEO of Siemens Australia Pacific and head of Siemens’ Smart Infrastructure portfolio in the region said, “We’re proud to see our technology play a pivotal part in fulfilling New Zealand’s low carbon future.
“It’s critical to have a long-term view of transport infrastructure – one that centers around the effective and efficient use of the right technology and seamless movement of people,” said Mr Connolly.
The Go Bus project demonstrates the advantage of Siemens’ vehicle-agnostic charging infrastructure, which will integrate with eBuses from both Chinese OEM Yutong and local New Zealand OEM Global Bus Ventures, to deliver future-proofed charging solutions.
The reporting and monitoring function of Siemens’ Charging Management Software will enable Go Bus to centrally monitor all charging infrastructure across two cities and easily report on key metrics including electricity savings. Smart management functionality will also enable Go Bus to schedule charging to take advantage to lower overnight tariffs while ensuring that individual buses have reached the desired state of charge by the time they are needed for the next day’s operations.
