Bus retrofit as a sustainable solution
Converted electric buses from “I SEE Busses”
"It’s more sustainable and faster," says Andreas Pfeffer. What he is talking about? Converting diesel buses with electric drives. In a pilot project in Schleswig-Holstein, the managing director of I SEE Busses, together with partners like “DB Autokraft”, is demonstrating the efficiency of this idea.
"It's great that through I SEE Busses we can also be part of the project and make an important contribution to increasing overall efficiency with our innovative electric drive solutions," says Michael Hehnen, Sales Manager for E-Mobility at KEB. In North Germany on the "GreenTec Campus", the specialists for electric buses are working in one of the German centres for modern mobility and energy supply. For the conversion, the diesel engine, drive train, tank and transmission are removed and an axle drive module, battery packs, modern auxiliary units and control units were installed.
Demand-based control increases efficiency
Not only electric traction drives, but also the numerous electrically operated auxiliary units in electrified commercial vehicles are becoming increasingly important. Efficient system solutions guarantee greater range and lower operating costs.
The compact, modular and scalable T6 inverter system from KEB provides I SEE Busses with a demand-oriented electric drive for the air compressor and power steering pump. The intelligent control system belonging to the T6 system offers numerous software solutions for almost every application in the field of electrification of auxiliary equipment. This means that nothing stands in the way of flexible expansion of the T6 system with a further drive module, for example for an innovative CO2 refrigerant compressor.
The T6 is equipped with integrated DC filter technology as standard. This feature ensures unique electromagnetic compatibility in the system network and thus makes an important contribution to operational safety.
250 kilometres without intermediate charging
Andreas Pfeffer says: "With this project we want to achieve several goals at the same time: not only to significantly accelerate the introduction of electromobility in public transport, but also to show that the conversion to electromobility of existing internal combustion commercial vehicles can always be a sustainable and quick alternative to new procurement". Within a week, the I SEE Busses team will convert the buses to fully electric.
The first bus will run in the small town of Niebüll near the german-danish border. The converted MAN Lions City bus (12 metres) is running on various routes in Niebüll and can cover about 200 to 250 kilometres without intermediate loading. Recharging takes place at night at the Niebüll depot of DB Autokraft.
Frank Klingenhöfer, Member of the Management Board of DB Regio Bus, said at the official presentation of the first bus: "For us as a public transport operator, the retrofitting of existing public transport diesel buses represents a resource-saving, sustainable, cost-effective and very quickly available addition to the new order of electric buses. In this way we are making an important contribution to the DB strategy "Strong Rail".
