The temporary union of Endesa X - DOMINION has been awarded the tender for the second phase of installation of 37 new 150 kW rapid recharging equipment for electric buses that "sleep" in the bus depots of the Railway Triangle of Metropolitan Transport of Barcelona (TMB). This will guarantee the nightly power supply of part of the electric bus fleet to provide a better service to users.
The president of TMB, Laia Bonet, explained that the new fast chargers "are another step forward in bus efficiency and within the framework of initiatives towards a more sustainable fleet that, between 2021 and 2024, will have 210 hybrid vehicles powered by natural gas, 154 electric and 46 by hydrogen”. Bonet recalled that the electrification of part of the bus fleet is accompanied by a series of measures that were presented last week in the TMB Energy Efficiency and Savings Plan, which is very important in the current context of the energy crisis and will be based in the "commitment to self-consumption and the recovery and reuse of surplus energy in the service's own activity".
Thanks to this type of fast recharging of 150 kW in the Triangle Ferroviari depot, the batteries of the buses will be charged up to 100% at the end of the service, to guarantee their full performance throughout the following day. The rapid feeding that these 37 new chargers allow is carried out from hoods that will be installed in the concrete structure located on the roof of the parking area of the Triangle depots.
When a bus pulls up to the depot for the night, the vehicle is duly parked under the bell. The energy supply process begins when the pantograph, a kind of retractable mechanical arm that is located on the roof of the bus, is unfolded and coupled to the charger located on the roof of the installation in the depot, in a fully automated process.
In addition to depots and workshops, the TMB Railway Triangle facilities include the CCB (Bus Control Center), the true "brain" of the bus network, from where the proper functioning of the service is directed, regulating frequencies and managing possible incidents, and the Triangle CON (Business Operations Centre), which regulates and manages a fleet of 214 vehicles, 31 of them electric, integrated into 17 of the 106 lines of the total bus network, and where some 850 people work between workshops and offices and 675 drivers and drivers.
TMB and Endesa X - DOMINION: the commitment to electric mobility
As an operator committed to the fight against the climate emergency and to sustainable development, TMB has set out to achieve emission neutrality in its transport networks by 2030. Among the next steps is the electrification of 100% of the lines H12 and V15 buses, currently in the process of placing the terminal stop charging points.
TMB, Endesa X and DOMINION thus strengthen their relationship and their commitment to making Barcelona a more sustainable city, with a clear commitment to electric traction, green energy and climate change mitigation. And the fact is that the first chargers were already installed by Endesa in 2016 on the H16 bus line, being pioneers in Catalonia, Spain and Europe.
