Hamburger Hochbahn appoints ABB for chargers

For Germany’s first electric bus depot, Hamburger Hochbahn AG has appointed ABB to supply infrastructure for 44 high-power chargers. Each of the buses with a range of up to 150 km in normal conditions, will be able to be charged overnight in the central bus depot.

The Hochbahn has the aim to achieve full electrification of its bus fleet by 2030. To this end, the German public transport operator has called on the expertise of the Swiss company ABB who should install a turnkey solution to supply 44 of its high-power 150C chargers for the network.

The high-performance chargers are part of ABB’s modular system approach to depot charging applications that are designed to provide efficient grid connection for the charging infrastructure. To ensure high availability and reliability, the SafePlus (MV) medium-voltage switchgear, which has a fully enclosed system for improved performance and personal safety, has doubled the transformers and low-voltage (LV) switchgear to allow seamless charging between stations if maintenance is required elsewhere in the infrastructure.

This investment follows after the Hamburg Senate called on transport to exclusively purchase zero-emission, fully electric buses from 2020 onwards. This is part of Germany’s wider environmental agenda, whereby Hamburg has been named as one of the first cities to commit to the full electrification of its bus fleet.

ABB will supervise the installation and commissioning together with the full site management, which is expected to be completed by summer 2019.
abb.com