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Czech Republic’s first all-electric fast-charging solution has been deployed

Posted: 7 November 2018 | | No comments yet

As the city of Ostrava in Czech Republic makes steps towards electrifying its public transportation, Heliox supplies a fast-charging network for Ekova e-buses.

ostrava

Charging station in Ostrava, Czech Republic

The first electric bus network in Ostrava, Czech Republic has received an all-electric fast-charging system.

Ostrava is dedicated to reducing the amount of harmful emissions in Czech Republic, switching to all-electric buses with the goal to put diesel-powered buses out of operation.

The introduction of electric buses to the existing infrastructure demands a network of charging stations, and Ekova Electric, a supplier of intelligent solutions for public transport, has chosen Heliox to be the fast-charging partner.

Ekova Electric Vice Chairman of the Board, COO, Jiri Martinik, said: “We are proud that our first customer is our parent company in our home city of Ostrava, and it is the first installation of this kind of technology in the Czech Republic. This is the first e-mobility project of this type of fast charging. We are fulfilling our strategy to develop intelligent solutions for public transport, and I expect that other projects of this type will follow.”

The Heliox OC 450 kW charger utilises a pantograph and ensures maximum availability as the charging takes just a couple of minutes. The provided automated coupler device (ACD) system is an inverted pantograph solution where an infrared signal initiates the charge session.

As this is the first deployment of electric buses in Ostrava, additional charging cabinets and charge masts may be added in the future. This type of flexibility creates a future-proof solution that is fully-scalable and expandable.

As an example of interoperability and strength of open interface, Heliox fast chargers support open communication and the latest OCPP 1.6 Backoffice system. This type of flexibility ensures the customer real-time insights that help monitor and manage the infrastructure network which allows increased up-time, and therefore reduced down-time, of the operation.

Dawid Kmiecik, Business Development, Heliox, said: “We are honoured to work towards sustainable public transportation in Ostrava and Czech Republic, to contribute to further advancements in e-mobility. As many countries in the CEE region are rolling out their sustainable green transport plans, we are happy to see how our robust charging network offer cities like Ostrava maximum availability of their public transportation with minimal noise and no pollution.”

To this day, Heliox has charged more than 430 electric buses globally to optimise the reduction of harmful emissions and lessen the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.