Wrightbus uses Forsee batteries for EV conversion

Northern Irish bus manufacturer Wrightbus has chosen the 'Zen Plus' battery system from French supplier Forsee Power to convert 1,000 diesel buses to electric drive over the next three years. Wrightbus recently established a new business unit for retrofitting diesel buses.

The battery systems selected by Wrightbus for the retrofit are available in five versions with a capacity of 74 to 84 kWh. According to Forsee Power, they offer an energy density of 180 Wh/kg and a service life of 5,000 cycles, “providing a very competitive Total Cost of Ownership for the fleet operators.”

The ‘Zen Plus’ battery system is certified to current industry standards, including ISO 26262 / ASIL C, ISO 12405, IEC 62660, and R100 Rev.3. According to the French company, the system is also designed to be used in second-life applications and then easily recycled.

The background to the battery order is that Wrightbus has just founded a new business unit called NewPower to convert diesel buses. The Northern Irish company also uses battery systems from Forsee Power for its brand-new electric buses – so a collaboration on the retrofit business was also a logical step.

Given the lower operating costs, Wrightbus hopes to persuade public transport operators to convert their existing vehicles to electric drives in the middle of their life cycle and not to wait until older diesel buses have to be replaced before electrifying them. The conversion, which involves installing a Voith Electric Drive System (VEDS) for the drive and the batteries from Forsee Power, will be completed in just three weeks. The catch: Wirghtbus will only convert vehicles from its own production, not diesel buses from other brands. However, this will ensure that the retrofitted electric drive fits perfectly.

“We are proud to pursue our collaboration with Wrightbus on retrofit. From the first-ever opportunity charging solutions in Milton Keynes that we launched together in 2013, we have been partnering with Wrightbus for zero emission transport with innovative solutions for their single and double decker buses, optimizing passenger capacity. We value our long-term partnership and look forward to repowering thousands of vehicles in the coming years,” says Christophe Gurtner, CEO of Forsee Power.

forseepower.com