Berlin: PSI Transcom to deliver e-bus management systems

PSI Transcom has been commissioned by the Berlin Transport Authority BVG to supply the depot and charge management system PSIebus. In the future, this system will schedule, monitor and control the electric bus fleet in the German capital.

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Initially, the system will be used in the BVG depot on Indira-Gandhi-Strasse in Berlin-Weissensee. PSIebus will ensure that the buses are reliably ready for operation at the beginning of their journey. The system will help to map and monitor all depot processes from vehicle location over parking, supply and workshop, driver registration and vehicle allocation.

In its calculations, PSI Transcom not only includes factors such as remaining range, state-of-charge and charging time but also, according to the manufacturer’s information, vehicle and route characteristics as well as daily updated weather data.

In the Weißensee depot, BVG uses rapid charging systems from the Polish manufacturer Ekoenergetyka, but also chargers from other suppliers, such as the Chinese XCharge. PSI’s load management will monitor the entire energy demand of the depot and control the individual charging devices. The goal is to avoid load peaks.

BVG uses PSI’s software in the depot but has also integrated another provider in the fleet. Since the end of October, the ViriCiti telematics system has been active on 59 of BVG’s electric buses. Their system delivers data while the e-buses are in active service and the Dutch specialist in telematics has created a monitoring system for operators of mixed bus fleets. This means that BVG can view real-time parameters such as the location of the electric buses, the charging status and any incidents during service hours. ViriCiti says that the system allows for tracking and analysing electric bus parameters in the millisecond range.

Update 07 January 2021: Seven weeks after the start of the project, PSI Transcom has now announced that the system has gone into operation at BVG. The system integrates, monitors and controls the charging infrastructure and coordinates the charging processes. In the first step, the charging systems of Ekoenergetyka were connected, later those of XCharge.

psitrans.de, psitrans.de (update)