Siemens Smart Infrastructure has received a contract from Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft Nürnberg (VAG) to equip its new ‘eBus port’ with a medium-voltage connection and charging infrastructure.

With 39 parking spaces, the eBus port will be one of the largest electric-bus depots in Germany.

Located on the VAG premises in the Nuremberg suburb of Schweinau, it will be supplied solely with ‘green’ electricity. Construction has already started, and operations are scheduled to begin in 2021.

Siemens says that electric buses are key to reducing air and noise pollution in cities, and that just one eBus traveling about 200km per day can save about 60 tonnes of CO² per year, even compared to the most modern diesel buses.

Josef Hasler, chief executive of VAG, said: “The depot will be the new home of our eBus fleet, which we will continue to expand over the next few years.

“With Siemens’ experience in both grid and charging solutions, we can design the charging depot for maximum efficiency and ensure high availability for our eBus fleet.”

The charging infrastructure from Siemens will support simultaneous charging of up to 20 buses overnight (or during other breaks in operation).

Power within the depot will be distributed to the individual charging stations via low-voltage switchgear, and the charging system will consist of 20 Sicharge UC 200 charging stations; each of these can supply up to 150kW and power
two parking spaces.