Full power in the depot and on the road: Kempower supplies charging technology for the NEW Group in Germany
The electrification of the transport sector is no longer focused solely on passenger cars, but also on demanding heavy goods and public transport. For example, the municipal service company NEW operates a fleet of electric buses in Mönchengladbach and Viersen. Kempower supplies the charging infrastructure necessary for reliable operation.
A powerful and intelligent charging infrastructure is the indispensable backbone of electric public transport. As public transport buses are subject to strict timetables and have little downtime, the technology must do much more than simply supply energy. Modern charging management systems precisely coordinate charging cycles with timetables, use short downtimes for necessary intermediate charging and control overnight full charging in a way that is gentle on the grid.
This is exactly what Kempower’s fast charging infrastructure offers NEW. The hub is the bus depot on Rheinstraße in Mönchengladbach. Four Kempower Power Units and 16 Kempower Satellites with a total output of 1200 kW have been installed there. The Kempower Power Units are scalable and space-saving cabinet solutions that form the heart of Kempower’s technology and supply the satellites with power. Up to twelve Kempower Satellites can be connected to one Kempower Power Unit, allowing the charging power to be dynamically distributed between the individual charging points.
But it’s not just at the depot that the e-buses can be charged. Seven Kempower Pantographs currently enable fast charging of the buses on the bus route between Mönchengladbach and Viersen. With a charging capacity of up to 350 kW, the buses can be charged there both during the day and at night. The charging process is fully automatic via a pantograph arm on the roof of the bus. This means that break times can be used efficiently without the buses having to return to the depot. Idle times that have to be used for charging can be minimised.
The collaboration with Kempower brings us a big step closer to our goal of running exclusively on electric power by 2030. We now have the infrastructure in the bus depot and on the route that enables us to operate efficiently. This allows us to transport our passengers to their destinations reliably and in a climate-friendly manner,” says Michael Fausten, Operations Manager at NEW.
Carl Phillip Tüllmann-de Lima, Head of Commercial Vehicle and Fleet Charging at Kempower’s partner GP Joule, adds: “Kempower’s modular and space-saving systems provided us with the ideal technological basis for setting up a future-proof and scalable charging infrastructure for NEW – both at the depot and along the route. We are delighted to be actively driving forward the technical implementation of this flagship project as a partner.”
Kempower’s technology enables NEW to make optimum use of the available space: the charging station and power unit are spatially separated, and the charging points are arranged in a modular fashion. This allows several buses to be charged at the same time and the charging process to be flexibly adapted to demand.
