“With a flexible range of alternatives for charging buses, we meet the varied demands and wishes of our customers and pave the way for quicker and easier transition to electrified bus traffic,” says Ulf Magnusson, SVP Business Unit Europe for Volvo Bus.
The Volvo Buses panto up solution is based on the latest technology from Schunk, featuring compact installation and low additional on-board weight and the company says Panto Up will be available as an alternative for the Volvo 7900 Electric and Volvo 7900 Electric Articulated in Europe front he third quarter in 2021.
Volvo Bus demonstrated its range of various solutions for high-efficiency charging at an event in its hometown Gothenburg last week, a the city that in many respects sets the pace for electrified public transport. The event was part of the EU’s ASSURED project, which aim to encourage electrification of vehicles used in urban traffic through interoperability between different vehicle manufacturers and chargers
Volvo’s OppCharge, is designed for charging via a charging station-mounted pantograph (panto down) at bus stops or bus depots, while Combo2/CSS, is designed for charging via cable at the depot and Panto up, is for charging via a roof-mounted pantograph at bus stops or bus depots.
At the EU’s ASSURED project, President of Volvo Bus, Håkan Agnevall, spoke of the importance of standardisation and interoperability if electric vehicles are to be adopted on a large-scale.
“Volvo Bus has been a pioneer in the development of common standards for high-power charging solutions. We pushed very early the need for establishing standardisation within the industry and created the charging concept OppCharge together with other bus manufacturers and suppliers of charging infrastructure.”
The first keynote speaker at the event was Patrick Anthony Child, director general representing the EU Commission, who said that the EU Commission is very happy to support this flagship project which is the result of good cooperation.
Professor Dr Joeri Van Mierlo, EU ASSURED Project Coordinator, explained the aims of the project, and the importance of standardization for electrification of vehicles going forward.
Mohamed Mezgahni, Secretary General of UITP (International Association of Public Transport), declared that the public transport sector has a vital role in dealing with massive global issues, such as climate change.
“One of the key methods in backing our members in the transition to cleaner fleets has been by undertaking projects such as ASSURED, which deal with the electrification of urban commercial fleets,” claimed Mohamed Mezgahni while speaking at the event. “This project brings together the industry, cities and operators in a common effort towards the interoperability and standardisation of electric buses.”
Roger Vahnberg, Senior Vice President of Västtrafik (the Public Transport Authority in Gothenburg), talked about Västtrafik´s successful experience going from smaller tests seven years ago up until today where they expect to have 230 electric buses operating by December.
One of the demonstrations offered a glimpse of Volvo Buses’ new panto up concept.
Other demonstrations included the high-power charging solution currently being used at an indoor bus stop in Lindholmen, Gothenburg, and an ultra-high-power charging solution currently being used on a real cross-town trunk line in Eriksberg.
