Siemens powers German bus depot

Siemens Smart Infrastructure has received an order from the Regensburg transport authority to equip a bus depot for electromobility.

Siemens will supply the charging infrastructure as well as the power distribution technology for the site with operations are scheduled to start in 2021. Electric buses were first introduced in the city center of Regensburg in 2017. 

The Sicharge UC 200 charging stations will supply 22 new electric buses at 23 parking spaces with a charging power of 150 kW each. Charging will take place either overnight or during other breaks in operations using charging cables and connectors. 16 of the 23 parking spaces will have a special cable reel that automatically rewinds after charging is complete, leaving the drive-through lanes open.

The vehicles will be powered with locally and renewably generated green electricity from a local energy provider. To connect the depot to the public power grid and to distribute electricity in the building, Siemens is also installing transformers and a low-voltage switchboard.

Speaking about the project, Birgit Dargel, head of future grids at Siemens Smart Infrastructure, said: “This project demonstrates yet again the importance of integrating new charging infrastructure into existing structures.

“Many cities are investing in sustainable bus transport, but the retrofit has to be as economical as possible. For this reason, converting existing bus depots to eBus operations must be easy and cost-efficient.”

Manfred Koller, managing director at das Stadtwerk.Regensburg, said: “In order to continue to make transport in Regensburg more environmentally friendly and climate-neutral, we want to further advance the electrification of the local public transport.

“It is important for us to integrate the new charging infrastructure into the existing bus depot easily and economically. In addition, we need to be able to add more charging options in future. We decided to go with Siemens because of their easy-to-expand charging infrastructure as well as their busbar trunking system for power distribution as an alternative to complex wiring.”

  • Image from press release©das stadtwerk Regensburg / Simon Gehr

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