VTT TECHNICAL RESEARCH CENTRE OF FINLAND LTD

Requirements and
technology for electric bus
fast charging infrastructure
International Conference
Electric Mobility and Public Transport

Santiago de Chile, 10-11 May 2017

Mikko Pihlatie, Marko Paakkinen, VTT
mikko.pihlatie@vtt.fi
Charging system requirements

 VTT is gathering charging system requirements in collaboration

with the HSL region stakeholders for procurement of the next
charger(s)
 The future bus fleet will include buses and charging systems
from multiple manufacturers and operators
 Vehicle sourcing by the PTO’s
 Requires interoperability between vehicles and charging
infrastructure
 Common features need to be decided early, like charging
connnection
 These requirements function also as the base for evaluating the
tenders for the chargers

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General requirements for bus charging
infrastructure
 Interoperability
 Vehicles
 Chargers
 Between different PTO’s / PTA’s
 Scalability
 Bus fleet size (number of charging stations / points)
 Charging station capacities (charging point capacity vehicles/h)
 Integration into the city infrastructure
 Appearance

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Options for charging of electric buses

 Manual charging interfaces (depot charging)

 AC plugs and on-board chargers
 Stationary fast chargers of 50 – 300 kW with standardised
interface (CCS)
 Automatic charging interfaces (opportunity charging)
 Pantograph
 Mounted on the vehicle (rooftop pantograph)
 Installed on the infrastructure side (inverted pantograph)
 Connection from underneath the vehicle
 Connection from the side of the vehicle
 Inductive charging
 Other concepts: trolleybuses, supercapacitor buses, hydrogen
buses, different types of hybrids
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Detailed charger
requirements for HSL
region (mandatory)
1. General features

 Type: Off-board, charging power electronics to be situated on

the infrastructure side
 Contents: Power electronics, charging connector, cabling from
power electronics to the charging connector
 Options: Charging pole
 Power: 350 - 450 kW nominal
 The solution must be scalable for 25% increase in power (up to the
transformer maximum power)
 Contacting type: Pantograph, compatible with the existing
contacting solution in the HSL region
 Direction of pantograph: Roof mounted / Inverted (To be
decided by HSL)
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1. General features, cont’d

 Charger delivery shall conform to the following standards:

 SFS EN-6000 (Pienjännitesähköasennukset)
 SFS EN-6002 (Sähkötyöturvallisuus)
 EN61851-1 (Electric vehicle conductive charging system, general requirements)
 EN61851-23 (Electric vehicle conductive charging system. DC electric vehicle charging
station)

 EN61851-24 (Electric vehicle conductive charging system. Digital communication

between a d.c. EV charging station and an electric vehicle for control of d.c. charging)

 Charger shall be factory-made and have CE-marking

 Charger shall be installed in corrosion protected enclosure with
ordered colour

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2. Electrical

 Distribution network voltages

 400 VAC 50 Hz 3 phases
 10-20 kV high voltage supply
 Charge voltage: 460 - 800 VDC
 Total system efficiency: 85 % or better, power factor 0,9 or
better (including transformer, charger and cabling losses)
 Grid connection: Grid connection is made to a single charger
unit
 Charging connection: From the charger unit to one or several
charging points
 The charger needs to be able to allocate power dynamically
between the different charging points (UCPP 1.6)
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3. Environment

 Installation locations
 Outdoors (bus end stops)
 Indoors (terminals)
 Underground (e.g. Rautatientori)
 Enclosure class: IP54 or NEMA 3
 Temperature range: -35…+50°C or wider
 Noise requirements: tbd
 Cooling requirements: from the supplier
 Underground / terminal installation
 Charger installation (adjacent to a wall / walls, low spaces)

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4. Civil engineering and construction

 Standardised installation frame

 For outdoors installation, the solution depends on the distribution network
operator
 Option: Charger to be integrated with the transformer container/substation
 Physical dimensions, weight, surface pressure
 Range of vehicle heights / installation heights
 Rooftop version: nominal installation height 490 cm (tolerance) , minimum
free height 460 cm
 Inverted version: nominal installation height xx cm (tolerance)
 Charging pole construction specifications will depend on the final
choice of the pantograph type
 The pole needs to be able to carry the weight of both pantograph solutions

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5. Communication and interfaces

 Communication between charger and vehicles

 CCS
 Type of data transfer
 Contact
 Pantograph
 Automotive CCS connector (for infrastructure sharing and depots)
 Wireless (with inverted pantograph)
 Communication with the back-office
 For back-end communication, both wireless (4G) and ethernet
shall be supported
 Standard OCPP protocol (1.6)
 Two-way communication through the OCPP interface
 Control of the charging
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 Dynamic power allocation 11
6. Standardisation to be followed

 Charging equipment
 CEN CENELEC, coming up in 2019
 Communication
 OCPP
 Interoperability
 Coming up in ASSURED

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7. Service and maintenance

 All maintenance need to be performed without moving or

disassembling the cabinet.
 Warranty at least 36 months from successful installation
 Technical support from manufacturer
 24/7 on-line technical support from manufacturer
 Repair response times
 Remote software reset
 Technical service personnel from manufacturer on-site within 20 h
 With larger fleet, need local support with faster response time
 Training
 Spare parts delivery response time
 Local warehousing of critical spare parts
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8. Delivery, installation, commissioning and
user training
 Charger must be delivered and commissioned within 6 months
after received purchase order.
 The delivery of the equipment shall be made DDP (Incoterms
2010) “Destination”
 The tenderer must specify a schedule for delivering the
equipment.
 Supplier is responsible for installation work and commissioning
of the fast charging station.
 Supplier shall organise training for the CPO and service

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Pantograph in vehicle
Schunk SLS 101

 Maximum charging power 750 kW

 Weight 85 kg
 Electrically compatible with CCS
connector (same signals)
 Does not require wireless
communication or alignment
sensoring
 Lifted using spring, lowered using an
electric motor
 Spare lowering with a cable

Picture: Heliox

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ABB / TOSA

 Geneva
 12 buses in one line
 20 charging location
 10 000 passengers per day
 2 movement axes on the
pantograph
 Sideways alignment
 Raise
 Alignment to the pole with laser
guidance
 Charging power 600 kW
 Charge time 15 s (on every stop)
Pictures: ABB
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Opbrid Busbaar

 Two railway pantographs on top of the

vehicle
 Front pantograph connects to positive DC
contact
 Rear pantograph connects to negative DC
contact
 Long connection rails at stops
 Allows large tolerances for parking
 Gothenburg, Umeå, Winnipeg
 Latest version Busbaar V3, which is an
inverted pantograph
 This has evolved further into Furrer+Frey
All-In-One (OppCharge) Pictures: Hybricon, Opbrid

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Supercapacitor buses

 Vertically moving pantographs

 Only DC contacts
 Utilizing Aowei ultra capacitors
 Chariot Motors
 Sofia (Bulgaria)
 Tel Aviv (Israel)
 Sunwin Bus
 Shanghai
 Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive
 Ningbo

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11.5.2017 Kuvat: Chariot Motors, 19
Sunwin Bus, News.cn
Charging from trolley bus or tram lines

 Different customized Prague

pantographs are avalaible for
charging from trolley bus or
tram lines
 Oberhausen, Leipzig,
Warsaw, Prague

Picture: Foreigners.cz, s.r.o

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Pantograph in
infrastructure
OppCharge

 An initiative started and run by Volvo Buses

 Volvo owns the trademark
 Main supporters Volvo, ABB and Siemens
 First charging station inaugurated in October 2016
 Pantograph in the charging pole, 4 contacts
 Compliant with the current standards
 ISO/IEC 15118(-8) (WiFi)
 IEC 61851-23 DC charging
 Uses WiFi for communication
 Charging initiation from the bus => lower pantograph
 Communication during charging?
 Power levels: 150, 300, 450 kW, upcoming 600 kW

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Schunk SLS 201

 Same contacts and mounting

points as in Schunk SLS 101
 Requires communication with
the charger to command the Picture: Heliox
lowering of the pantograph
 Utilized in Kalmar FastCharge
system
 Used in Turku with an
OppCharge type contact
 Heliox uses in their first
OppCharge compliant charger

Picture: Schunk
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Stemmann Technik

 Used in ABB and Siemens

OppCharge compliant chargers
 Manufactures also depot charging
systems and electric ferry charging
equipment

Picture: ETL Mobility

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Proterra (US)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp3_zUgD6KE
 In use since 2012, over 250 000 charges
 Proterra has delivered 100 full electric buses (in USA)
 Market leader in USA with 60% market share
 Maximum voltage 1000V, maximum current 1400A
 Proterra has released their patents free for utilization

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Picture: Proterra
Market review on
automatic charger
manufacturers
Heliox (NL)

 Pioneer, has been installed a lot of chargers

 Sizing of the charger according to the customer
 No modularity
 Offered power levels 300, 450, 600 kW
 Supports the connection that suits the customer
 Schunk
 OppCharge
 Multi-Contact
 Largest installation in Eindhoven with 43 buses
 20 e-bus chargers in Scandinavia Kuva: Heliox

 Good efficiency and power factor in chargers

 Efficiency 97%
 Power factor > 0,95
 Liquid cooling (quiet)

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Ekoenergetyka (PL)

 Modular charger consisting of 10 kW units

 A failure of a single module will only result in 10 kW
power drop
 Hot swappable
 Customizes the chargers according to the customer
requirements
 Power range 20 kW – 1 MW
 Same modular structure also in depot chargers (DC)
 Supports customer’s selected connector
 Participating also in OppCharge
 Charger can be supplied from AC or DC grid (tram)
 Efficiency 95%, Power factor > 0,99
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ABB (NL)

 OppCharge consortium member

 Supports only OppCharge
 Supports 150, 300 ja 450 kW power
 Installations up to date:
 Gotherburg (SE): 1 charger
 Namur (BE): 2 chargers Picture: ABB

 Luxembourg: 4 chargers + 2 in order

 Charleroi (BE): order of 15 chargers until
2018
 Montreal (CA): 1 charger
 Värnamo (SE): First commercial order for
Sweden

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Siemens (DE)

 OppCharge consortium member

 Oppcharge power levels
 150, 300 and 450 kW
 Grid connection 400 V – 20 kV
 Installations up to date:
 Hamburg
 Gothenburg
 Stockholm
 Montreal
 Hamburg innovation line 109 has been
using since 12/2014
Pictures: Siemens
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Furrer + Frey (Opbrid) All-In-One (ES)

 All integrated into the charging mast

 Inverted pantograph
 Charger
 Charging power 150 – 300 kW
 Redundant charger
 OPPCharge compatible
 Upgradeable charging power after
installation
 Low voltage grid connection (400V)

Picture: Furrer+Frey

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Open questions

32
Open questions for Santiago / Chile / XX

 Who makes the decisions on the system-level

configuration?
 How do you decide on the type of the charging
and operation concept?
 How to make sure that the pilots (90 e-buses)
give a good picture of the technology and © ABB Group

system viability?
 Sourcing strategy

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TECHNOLOGY FOR BUSINESS
Other automatic
connection methods
Multi-Contact (FR)

 Max. voltage 1000V, max. current 900A

 Used mainly in France
 PVI, selling with trademark WATT
 Being trialled in port and mining equipment
 Introduced in 2014
 Testing in Nice airport
 7 charging points
 Has been in use since 2014
 Heliox has experience using this in mining
and port equipment
Pictures: PVI, Stäubli

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Alstom SRS (FR)

 Tram (1 contact) and bus (2 contacts)

versions available
 DC contacts that lower down from the
bus floor
 Communication with radio signaling
 Contacts are powered when the bus has
contact with the charger
 Based on Alstom APS, which has been
used with trams for 10 years
 Going to be tested first in Nice tram
system

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Pictures: Alstom
Schunk bus floor connector

 Probably waiting for the first interested customer

 No known references
 No material available
 Can be challenging in severe weather countries

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Inductive charging

 Primove (Bombardier)
 Braunschweig; used in 18 m Solaris articulated buses
 12 km route, 3 charging points
 200 kW charging power
 >90% efficiency
 60 kWh battery
 Mannheim; tested in Hess 12 m city buses
 9 km route, 4 charging points
 200 kW charging power
 60 kWh battery
 Tested also charging of a truck (Scania) and a van Picture: Bombardier

(Mercedes) with the same system

 Tested also dynamic (while driving) charging with
success
 Used in tram system in Augsburg
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Inductive charging

 Conductix-Wampfler IPT
 Genoa and Turin have been testing since
2002 with 20 buses
 60 / 120 kW charging power
 95% efficiency
 The bus coil lowers to 40 mm from ground
during charging
 Emoss is offering this as an option for 12 m
electric bus Picture: Conductix-Wampfler

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