Heliox has received on May 2017 an order for a further 23 x 450kW Opportunity Charge System and 86 x FAST DC 30kW CCS bus chargers from Connexxion (Transdev), to power the largest single fleet of opportunity charged electric buses in the world. The order will include installation sites at Amsterdam Airport and Amsterdam/Amstelveen, the Netherlands to power 100 x VDL electric buses in total by 2018.
This order followed the successful inauguration of Europe’s largest charge infrastructure project in 2016, cited by Hermes (Connexxion/Transdev) CEO Juul van Hout “as the best implementation ever”.
The scope of Heliox’s contract is a complete turnkey project to charge the 100 x VDL Citea's SLFA Electric buses. It includes the 13 MW Charge Infrastructure, comprising of charging stations, substations, switchgear, civil works, installation and a service contract. This entails large scale charging systems at the two depots of Schiphol Amsterdam Airport and Amsterdam/Amstelveen. Additionally, 2 opportunity charging hubs will be installed for end of route charging.
Besides the unprecedented large scale of the project, the power of 450kW opportunity chargers mark Heliox’s lead in development to the next generation of 450kW and even 600kW charge systems expected in 2018. The more powerful systems give PTO’s shorter charging times of 2 to 4 minutes, resulting in significantly reduced charging time and more profitable zero-emission operations.
“Each of the electric buses will be driven over 100,000 km per year as the AML contract is one of the busiest bus networks in The Netherlands. In 2021 electric buses run in almost three quarters of the transport area. What we are going to do here is magnificent," Eric Bavelaar, Managing director of Connexxion AML.
The fast chargers from Heliox will play an important role in Connexxion’s long-term vision for Amsterdam to become a low-emission bus contract that adopts world-class electric bus technology, shows large scale deployment of opportunity charging infrastructure and electric buses, while being financially feasible.
Connexxion (Transdev) has chosen for the open industry “Schunk roof-mounted” interface, which features a pantograph coming up to the overhead opportunity ChargeMast, providing a system that is open to all bus brands as well as other charger manufacturers, key for operators and cities to embrace the large scale adoption of electrified public transportation.
“Industry as a whole, confirms the competitiveness of our offer and strengthens Heliox’s role as global market leader. Our new and more powerful products are up to 600kW and our unique offering of both CCS depot chargers and Opportunity Charge Systems for end-of-route charging are proving to be a market leading success. Heliox as the only manufacturer with all 3 standardised interfaces available (CCS, Roof-mounted & OppCharge) gives operators the unique benefit of having just one contract partner,” Bob Bouhuijs, Director Automotive of Heliox.
ABOUT
Heliox is the global market leader in fast charging systems within public transport, marine, mining and port equipment. The premium quality and highly efficient chargers enable operators to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. Heliox operates on a global level with headquarters in the Netherlands and local offices in the UK, Australia, Singapore and India.
- Global market leader with largest installed base in Megawatt.
- Unique combination of depot charging systems from 25 to 150kW and Opportunity Charging with charging power up to 600kW.
- All 3 standardised interfaces available: CCS, Roof-mounted & OppCharge
- Designed for high efficiency and robustness.
- TüV, CE certified series production.
- Member of UITP, European Standardisation Initiative of charging infrastructure and bus manufacturers for interoperability, following IEC 61851, the international standard for fast charging of electric vehicles.
Heliox Opportunity Charge Systems have been installed in over 20 countries, including Germany, Luxembourg, Finland, France, the UK, Sweden, Japan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey.
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.