Siemens Smart Infrastructure has received an order from the Regensburg transport authority “das Stadtwerk Regensburg.Mobilität GmbH” in Germany to equip the bus depot in the Markomannenstrasse for electromobility. Siemens will supply the charging infrastructure as well as the power distribution technology. Operations are scheduled to start in 2021. Electric buses were first introduced in the city center of Regensburg in 2017.
“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,” said Manfred Koller, Managing Director at das Stadtwerk.Regensburg. “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.”
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 REWAG, the energy provider in the Regensburg group of companies.
“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,” said Birgit Dargel, Head of Future Grids at Siemens Smart Infrastructure.
