Euskotren to charge its buses at night using electricity from Metro Bilbao
- The solution will use the underground’s electricity network when the system is at its lowest use
- This project is driving the powering of the smart electricity recharging infrastructure that Euskotren is going to install at the ETS workshops in Leioa (Bizkaia)
In the coming months, Euskotren, the publicly-owned company belonging to the Basque Government’s Ministry of Sustainable Mobility, is going to roll out a smart charging system – in conjunction with Metro Bilbao and using the underground railway’s electricity network – in the management of its fleet of electric buses in Bizkaia.
The Medusa solution – which is currently used by the Bilbobus fleet of electric buses – is going to allow the Euskotren urban and interurban electric vehicles to use an existing and high power electricity infrastructure within approximately six months; that Metro Bilbao infrastructure will provide an ancillary recharging service to another public transport system, mainly at the time (at night) when both services scale down their activity.
Lower investments in new electrical connections will thus be required, thanks to optimising the use of the power contracted by the supplier. This system will allow the Euskotren fleet of electric buses to be charged without affecting the Metro Bilbao transport service. The smart charging infrastructure will thus be installed at the Euskal Trenbide Sarea (ETS) workshops located in Leioa (Bizkaia).
The Basque Deputy Minister for Infrastructures and Sustainable Mobility, Miguel Ángel Páez, explained that it is ‘an imaginative project and which seeks to make public resources more efficient’. Metro Bilbao’s General Manager, Eneko Arruebarrena; the director of Medusa, Eduardo García; and representatives of the Basque Energy Board and Repsol accompanied the Deputy Minister.
Powering the trains must always take precedence over charging the buses if there is a Metro service at that time; buses will be trickled charged when trains pass by. Therefore, the charging of buses will be more intensive – and the whole system optimised – at night when there is no Metro underground service. This is possible with this smart charging management system, thanks to its continuously monitoring operations.
Medusa was set up by the Basque Energy Board (EVE), the Basque Government and Repsol to design smart charging solutions for electric vehicles; the aim is to drive the transition towards sustainable electric mobility.
The project unveiled today consists of connecting the Metro Bilbao electric substation in Leioa and the ETS facilities in the same municipality; it will also entail the necessary electrical fit-out to charge all Euskotren electric buses in Bizkaia in the coming years. The location has been chosen due to the short distance between the Metro Bilbao facilities in Leioa and the current Euskotren bus depots. ‘We sometimes need to pause and look at things in perspective, as the solutions are often closer than we think’, the Deputy Minister for Infrastructures and Sustainable Mobility explained.
The investment budgeted for this project – for the electrical connections and civil works – will be €1,835,000.
Most of the fleet of Euskotren buses in Bizkaia are used to provide the interurban services on the Bizkaibus provincial road transport system, specifically on the Margen Derecha [Right Bank] and for the university service between the Leioa Campus and the Margen Izquierda [Left Bank]. Euskotren also runs buses to supplement the railway and Larreineta Funicular services: Usansolo – Hospital; Zamudio – Technology Park; and Larreineta (Funicular) – La Arboleda.
In Leioa, Euskotren currently has 39 buses, four of which are electric. Two of the latter operate in the Bizkaibus provincial system and the other two are used on the Euskotren train+bus service on the Usansolo – Hospital and Larreineta – La Arboleda sections. Euskotren is currently immersed in a process to transform its fleet, which will be progressively replaced by more modern electric vehicles; the plan is for its transport to be fully electrified in Bizkaia by 2035. It will therefore soon add its recent purchase of a further three electric buses to the Bizkaibus service.
The Basque Government’s Ministry of Sustainable Mobility (ETS and Euskotren), Bizkaia Provincial Government’s Department of Transport, Mobility and Tourism, and Metro Bilbao are involved in the public-private partnership project presented today in Leioa.
Euskotren is thus the trail-blazing operator of the Bizkaibus provincial system to apply a smart charging solution to its electric buses.