How Kempower electrified one of Europe’s largest bus depots in Italy
Italian public transportation operator TPER has electrified one of Europe’s biggest bus depots in Bologna, exclusively using Kempower technology.
Cities are home to 75% of EU citizens, consume over 65% of the world’s energy and account for more than 70% of global CO2 emissions. Bologna is part of the EU’s Horizon Europe mission, which aims to take 100 cities to reach climate neutrality by 2030.
The transition to a more sustainable public transport system plays a pivotal role not only in reducing emissions, but also in offering cleaner air, safer transport and less congestion and noise to citizens.
A pioneering transportation operator, TPER is a key company for net-zero mobility in Italy and this project represents a milestone for the city of Bologna towards its sustainability goals.
DC fast-charging technology for electric bus depots
The TPER bus depot for up to 500 vehicles, is one of the largest bus depots in Europe. Using Kempower technology, it now offers up to 28 charging points for its 60 electric buses of 12and 18 meters in length. 20 Kempower Pantographs enable TPER to charge the vehicles using a power of up to 300 kW and five single output Kempower Satellites serve as auxiliary charging points, allowing to charge the buses with up to 130 kW.
Simultaneous fast-charging for multiple heavy-duty vehicles
The depot comprises 2 MW of installed power, employing a range of different Kempower Power Units (600 kW, 300 kW, 200 kW and 100 kW). As Mr. Monzali illustrates, “The installed power of 2 MW is equivalent to the energy needed by over 600 apartments using all their electrical connections at full power. We are working with a super high-power system.”
“The modularity of the systems was a critical factor in the selection phase of the project. The Power Units are equipped with modules of 50 kW each, allowing power to be increased by adding modules to the cabinets.”, says Mr. Monzali.
As TPER expands its electric bus fleet, the demand for charging capacity at the depot will rise accordingly. Kempower’s modular and scalable charging solutions will allow the operator to easily increase the charging capacity at the depot, according to need.
The infrastructure installed on this site enables DC charging at 800 V and therefore allows a bus to be fully charged in around an hour in the case of opportunity charging, both at daytime and night. In overnight modality, this site allows charging a bus in around 6 hours.
A transition to clean transportation with reliability at its heart
This project supports both near-term and long-term climate, health, and well-being goals, providing a model for the other cities, whose overall objective is to reach climate neutrality. The citizens of Bologna can breathe better air in their municipality, crucially without any impact on the transportation service they receive.
“At TPER, our motto is ‘a bus serves as a bus’, meaning that all our vehicles, including electric buses, must properly operate on their assigned routes. This is how we can ensure our efficiency and thus long-term operations,” explains Mr. Monzali.
In Kempower, TPER has found a partner who is able to deploy and operate charging systems at an economical rate and who will manage the charging site in the most effective way for years to come.
“I was looking for an utterly reliable charging solution for our e-fleet, to prevent any of our e-buses from stopping at any time due to lack of power. Kempower’s modular Power Unit and the related dynamic power management allow us to grant charging even in case of a temporary fault in the system. Failing power modules can even be remotely isolated for servicing, allowing uninterrupted operation for the rest. This is extremely important for us,” acknowledges Mr. Monzali.
Kempower chargers work dynamically to optimize power allocation across multiple vehicles at the depot, distributing it based on demand. This is key to grant charging efficiency and lower the related costs.
In realizing this project TPER has paid special attention in aesthetics. The operator believes that if a solution is greener, cleaner, and altogether better for the future, this must be reflected in its design. Therefore, TPER worked with an architect to shape a beautiful charging site in Via Ferrarese adding colors to the pantographs, a closed space to host the Power Units, and green decoration in the design.
Kempower ChargEye for Depot solution delivers manageability and key data to bus depot operators
TPER uses Kempower ChargEye to manage its depot. This cloud-based charging management system is specifically designed by Kempower to serve the needs of bus and truck depots and allows to optimize the total cost of ownership.
Kempower ChargEye complements Kempower’s hardware solutions and allows TPER to have total control of the charging infrastructure for managing both the recharging operations and maintenance requirements.
Some of the functions in use include setting peak power limits and charging priorities, managing vehicle pre-conditioning, and creating dedicated charging profiles for individual vehicles. This helps depot operators like TPER to run safe and secure operations and minimize the charging electricity costs.
“I am really satisfied about TPER trusting our innovative charging solution.”, comments Marco Bettega, Head of sales Italy at Kempower. “Together with our partner Mont-ele, who took care of every detail of the infrastructure, we have implemented a truly unique site. The modularity associated with the redundancy of the charging system, the chance of selecting different charging modes, fast or overnight, and the possibility to optimize the energy delivered, makes this depot a model for future projects.”, concludes Bettega.
