With the electrification of London United’s Shepherd’s Bush depot, the RATP Dev electric bus fleet has ballooned from four vehicles to 40. James Day reports from the depot relaunch
RATP Dev-owned London United held a launch event on 15 November, 2018, to mark an electric upgrade of its Shepherd’s Bush depot.
The depot is now able to house a fleet of 36 electric vehicles – all of which are BYD Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) Enviro200EVs. It will house the buses for Transport for London (TfL) routes C1 and 70, which have been running as all-electric services since 1 October 2018. [wlm_nonmember][…]
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Construction of the electric bus infrastructure began in June, and the project was efficiently completed without compromising day-to-day operations in the garage, which continues to house a number of diesel and hybrid vehicles.
RATP Dev aims to progressively turn Shepherd’s Bush into a depot with an all-electric fleet, to make it the company’s first zero-emissions bus garage in London. The infrastructure in place can support a further 19 electric buses on top of the 36 currently based there.
The BYD ADL partnership has provided the charging equipment, with the depot utilising BYD’s Smart Charging technologies to enable all of its buses to be charged overnight, avoiding peak hours of electricity use and easing overall grid capacity. SSE Enterprise and UK Power Networks provide power capabilities to the depot.
Relaunching the depot
The renewed Shepherd’s Bush facility was officially opened by Catherine Guillouard, Chair and CEO of RATP Group, Laurence Batlle, CEO of RATP Dev and TfL Transport Commissioner Mike Brown.
Catherine Guillouard said: “We have been looking forward to the upgrade of this depot, which very tangibly demonstrates our commitment to clean and sustainable travel. RATP Group’s aim to switch to 100% clean buses reflects our ambition to be an innovative and trusted partner of the city of London in its journey towards being a smarter and more sustainable city.”
Laurence Batlle said: “The electric buses housed at Shepherd’s Bush depot are a major step to realising a public transit system that helps improve our environment, that is demand responsive and that maximises efficiency with new technology. We are proud to work hand in hand with TfL to support the Mayor’s ultra-low emissions vision for the city and to provide London residents and visitors with innovative, sustainable and inclusive mobility solutions and services.”
Mike Brown added: “London’s air quality is a public health crisis and we’re committed to tackling it. The Ultra-Low Emission Zone, the world’s toughest emission standard which we’re introducing in central London next year, will help to reduce toxic emissions and vehicles in the transport industry must also lead the way. That is why we are creating one of the biggest electric bus fleets in Europe and we are delighted that RATP is introducing these new cleaner electric buses into the London bus network. Buses are crucial and affordable way to reduce Londoners’ reliance on cars, and this investment helps to reduce emissions across in London as part of supporting the Mayor’s vision of a zero-carbon city by 2050.”
Further BYD ADL success
In November 2017, BYD and ADL secured the order for 36 10.8m Enviro200EV electric buses along with the installation of 37 charging units and associated charging infrastructure.
Preparing Shepherds Bush bus garage for the electric buses involved a further collaboration with SSE to ensure the installation of the electric vehicle infrastructure. SSE installed vital electric power and data cables and wiring at the garage. BYD’s role included installing its Smart Charging Management System, which introduced an automatic charging system. The system allows the bus depot to simultaneously charge all the depot’s buses over night with minimal supervision. The BYD system is designed to remove the risks associated with manually charging buses and cut down on the manpower required over a night shift, in turn reducing operating costs.
Frank Thorpe, BYD UK Country Manager, said: “This highly complex project at Shepherd’s Bush is one of the best examples so far of how the in-depth experience of BYD in electric bus operation and infrastructure installation – coupled with the input of our strategic partners such as ADL and SSE – can simplify the task of getting electric bus fleets up and running in a short time.
“This is far from a simple task and there are many pitfalls as can be seen from another project in the UK where new electric buses are having to be recharged by a diesel generator.”
Arthur Whiteside, ADL’s Managing Director for UK Sales, commented: “We’re delighted that the electric bus partnership between ourselves and BYD continues to lead the charge in the UK. With over 215 BYD-ADL electric buses delivered or on order and well in excess of 1.5 million electric miles clocked up in the UK, it is clear that operators appreciate not only the vehicles we supply, but also the full infrastructure support from route analysis to site surveys which can be delivered. It demonstrates our commitment to seeing our customers as partners – we’re with them every step of the way.”
An efficient project
David Harmsworth, the Project Manager responsible for electrifying Shepherd’s Bush depot, gave CBW some details on the system which has been installed.
The majority of the chargers in the depot are arranged in pairs, with one in each pair using a three-metre charging cable and the other a five-metre cable. This allows two buses to be parked parallel to each other and charged simultaneously, with the five-metre cable fed underneath the closest vehicle to reach the furthest.
Overall, between 13 and 14 tonnes of power cables have been used, with just under 10 tonnes inside the depot. Each cable leads from the transformers – which reduce voltage from 11,000V to 400V – to the charging points with no joints. All cables are neatly stashed overhead before being directed straight down into the charging points.
All charging points in the depot can be used overnight between 2300 and 0600hrs, but only three can be used simultaneously during the day. This is partly a commercial decision as electricity is dramatically cheaper overnight, but also avoids overstraining the grid. Charging each bus uses around 200kWh of energy, at a price of around 15p per kWh.
A data cable is also fed out of each charging point and fed into a data logger in a control room. From here, a controller can see which chargers are available, which are in use and which plugged-in buses are now fully charged, along with the mileage each vehicle has travelled during the day and the power it has used.
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