De Lijn goes for charging management from PSI Transcom

In Belgium, the Flemish public transport company De Lijn is procuring the PSI eBus charging and depot management system from German supplier PSI Transcom for its electric buses. The software package will control the charging processes of the electric buses and the movements of all buses in De Lijn’s depots.

De Lijn says the contract is worth 11.2 million euros. The public transport provider launched a procurement procedure for up to 1,250 more electric buses in March 2022. The declared political goal is to offer completely emission-free public transport in Flanders by 2035. This means that charging facilities for about 2,100 buses have to be created in more than 50 depots. At some of the company’s larger depots sometimes more than 100 electric buses have to be charged. De Lijn say that in these cases efficient manual charging methods are hardly manageable. The Flemmish company also says that the sharp rise in electricity prices since last year underlines the importance of optimising electric bus charging processes.

At the end of each day, PSI Transcom’s software determines which task a vehicle will receive the following day. This driving order enables the system to direct each electric bus to the correct parking position so that it can leave the depot in the right order the next morning. The software also manages the entire charging process as cost-effectively as possible, starting from the SOC (State of Charge) on arrival and taking into account the next day’s battery demand. The automated charging process is initiated as soon as the driver connects the CCS2 plug of the assigned parking bay to the vehicle.

De Lijn says that the decisive factor in favour of the German company’s system was not only that it met these requirements, but that PSI eBus also submitted the best financial offer. “With PSI eBus for De
Lijn, we have a supplier with vast experience with other West European public transport operators”,
says Ann Schoubs, De Lijn Director-General. “When we evaluated the tenders, it struck us how well
this application could anticipate when facing unexpected situations.”

“The software package that has been approved by the board is of crucial importance to ensure that
the e-buses can take to the road and can be charged at the De Lijn depots”, says Lydia Peeters,
Mobility and Public Works minister. “The system determines at the end of each day which task it will
be allocated the next day. This trip order enables the system to direct each e-bus to the correct parking
position so that they can leave the depot in the correct order the next morning. The board of
directors’ approval bring a step closer to implementing our sustainability targets.”

In Germany, PSI Transcom’s software is in use in bus depots in Berlin, in and around Hamburg and Munich, among other places.

prezly.com (in Flemmish), info via email