Zemo Partnership and Abellio (together with partners Enel X, ESP Utilities Group, Cleaner EV, Wrightbus and Rock Rail subsidiary Rock Road) hosted an enlightening bus workshop last month which included a visit to the operator’s depot in Twickenham (Fulwell).
We looked at Abellio’s new electrical charging facility, where installation has been completed, but is still awaiting final commissioning. That gave us a unique opportunity to see the substation and other equipment, which, once activated, would be well ‘out of bounds’.
It was an excellent session and brought to life Zemo’s Zero Emission Bus Guide which was published last October. I now think I understand the difference between alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) charging.
In short, you need DC to charge a vehicle, but the current arrives at your premises as AC. To convert AC to DC, you either have a converter in the charging unit, or on the vehicle.
The former is a much faster way of charging but is more expensive, while the latter takes more time, but is cheaper. Increasingly, the larger bus industry groups are moving to DC charging (i.e., having the converter in the charging unit), but for smaller coach and bus companies, AC may remain attractive.
However, as a representative of a coach trade body, I came away from the workshop with some very mixed emotions. On the one hand, I was impressed with the support that the various partners provided, the wealth of experience that now exists in equipping and operating electric PSVs, and the benefits that it brings to society in running vehicles without tailpipe emissions.
Conversely, I was concerned about the complexity of the project to equip the depot to charge electric vehicles, the huge investment required, and building what is in effect an electric substation to ensure it all happens.
Who pays? This is serious investment and, I believe, is currently out of reach of many, if not most, small to medium coach operators, unless you acquire a yard with an underused electricity substation close by – not to mention the added complication of running a cable along the floor of the depot if you lease it from someone else.
This is probably more important than the development of an electric coach for most operators, as without the means of charging it, they won’t be buying one.
I am not trying to be alarmist or defeatist by this. Indeed, I still firmly believe we need to embrace this technology as the future of the coach industry depends on this (or other zero-emission solutions).
However, we need to start addressing the elephant in the room, and soon – in my experience, this sort of change can take a long time to implement, and 2040 is not that long away.
I am grateful to Zemo Partnership and Abellio for this event and their ongoing dialogue. UKCOA and other trade bodies are going to need their support going forward.
