Mobility and transport

Barcelona continues to advance in the technological and environmental conversion of the urban bus network by installing ultra-fast chargers in the terminals on the H12 and V15 routes, so that fully electric, zero-emission articulated vehicles can run on them next year.

Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) has awarded the contract by public bid to a joint venture between the companies Endesa X – Dominion to build two charging stations on each line and provide comprehensive maintenance for the charging infrastructure on these routes and the that of the H16, which has been fully electrified since the summer.

This means the necessary infrastructure will be built so that the electric buses fitted with pantographs on the H12 (Gornal – Besòs/Verneda) and V15 (Barceloneta – Av. Tibidabo) routes can charge their batteries while in service up to the optimum level of 90%, using the regulatory stoppage time at the last stop on the line (known as opportunity charging).

Consequently, the H12 will have two charging stations, one at each terminal, one at Gornal-Gran Via (L’Hospitalet) and another at Verneda-Concili de Trento, while the V15 will have two more, one at Passeig Joan de Borbló, in front of the Hotel Vela, and one at Josep Garí-Av. Tibidabo.

Simultaneous charging

Each electric charging station will have a transformer, two rectifiers with a maximum power output of 500 kW each and the charging points.

The H12 will have two charging points at each end of the line, so that two buses can recharge their batteries at the same time, while the V15 will have two points on the Port area and one more on Tibidabo.

Ultra-fast pantograph charging involves two elements: the charger, a pillar approximately five metres high, similar to a lamppost, which is installed at the start and end of the line to make the most of the stoppage time, and the pantograph, a retractable metal arm on the roof of the bus, which is extended and attached to the charger. By doing this, the route timetable will not be affected.

At night, with the buses back at the station and the service over, the vehicle batteries can be fully recharged in two to three hours, ready to run at full capacity at the start of the following day.

To do this, the Horta and Zona Franca bus stations will be fitted with 50 kW chargers to supply the new articulated buses, which will require charging stations in the street and in the Triangle bus station, as is currently the case with the H16.

Investment in sustainability

Last September, TMB contracted the manufacture of 29 100% electric articulated buses, 18 metres in length and fitted with opportunity charging systems, to add to the 30 buses of the same type already running in the urban fleet.

With 59 high-capacity electric buses, in approximately a year and a half, the H12 (21 vehicles on working days) and V15 (16 vehicles) routes will be fully electrified, following on from the electrification of the H16 (22 vehicles) last July.

The lines being electrified with the new chargers are among the busiest in the Barcelona bus network: on work days under normal conditions, the H12 carries around 25,000 passengers and the V15 around 17,000. The H16, the first 100% electrified high-demand route in Spain, takes 20,000 passenger journeys a day.

Source: TMB