Starting in summer 2015, passengers on the city center bus line 204 will be able to enjoy a quiet and zero-emission ride through Germany’s capital city. A wireless charging system and a compact battery system will be provided by Bombardier under the brand Primove. The German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) is supporting the project in the context of the “International Showcase Program for E-mobility Berlin Brandenburg”. The new fleet will save around 260 tons of CO2 per year.
On the occasion of the installation of the inductive charging pad at Berlin’s first charging station the project partners BVG (Berlin public transport authority), Berlin Technical University and Bombardier Transportation invited representatives from the BMVI, the City of Berlin and media to inform them about the technical details of the wireless charging technology, the current project status and the further project milestones. The charging pad weighs seven tons, is five meters long, two meters wide and 25 centimeters thick.
Bombardier’s innovative Primove system charges the Berlin buses’ batteries at 200 kW in the very few minutes of dwell time spent at the end stations. This allows the buses to serve the 6.1 km long bus line back and forth – without additional stops or battery changing for an entire day. As with an electric toothbrush, charging works without a cable connection. As soon as the bus is positioned over the underground charging pad, the pick-up coil mounted on the underside of the vehicle lowers.
Starting in April 2015, additional Primove charging stations will be installed at the route’s second end stop as well as at BVG’s bus depot where the four e-buses will be based. The 12 meter long vehicles will be built this spring by the Polish manufacturer Solaris. The delivery of the first bus to the Bombardier site in Mannheim, Germany, for final coordination of the technical components is planned for May 2015. Following this, the vehicles will be delivered to Berlin for approval and commissioning.
Source: Bombardier
