ABB, an engineering company specializing in automotive energy technologies, and Nova Bus, the North American buses manufacturer and division of Volvo Buses, have announced a new business collaboration that enables the delivery of ABB’s first electric bus opportunity charger in North America.
As reported, this collaboration reflects the desire of Nova Bus to keep investing in climate action by offering charging stations and electrified bus solutions to major cities in the U.S. and Canada.
“Transportation can be one of the biggest contributors to climate change. Supporting Nova Bus with ABB’s innovative charging solution will help to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions,” explains Derek Monk, general manager for ABB in Canada. “We’re thrilled to collaborate with Volvo Buses; it represents a major step in the advancement of electric buses in public transit in North America, and it will be the first ABB electric bus opportunity charging station in the Americas.”
Notably, ABB already has opportunity charging systems for e-buses in operation in Europe. The order from Nova Bus comprises one complete 300 kW modular common interface charging system with inverted pantograph technology and commissioning from the new ABB Campus in Montréal.
The ABB DC fast charger, with the associated systems, is based on the common interface, which allows charging stations and electrified buses from different manufacturers to be used together and only takes three to four minutes to charge the batteries at the charging station. Electric bus systems based on the OppCharge interface are being implemented in more than 12 countries.
“The acquisition of this new technology at our Plattsburgh assembly facility is part of our vision for the electrification of transportation and sustainable mobility. Ultimately, our goal is to always provide our U.S.-based customers the most reliable, sustainable transit buses in the industry,” says Ralph Acs, senior vice president for the Americas at Volvo Buses and president of Nova Bus.
“This sign of confidence from Nova Bus is reinforcing ABB’s commitment to sustainable mobility and is fully aligned with our recent announcement to establish our North American Center for excellence for e-mobility in the new ABB Campus in Montréal,” says Daniel Simounet, vice president of the transportation sector for ABB Americas. “We are now looking at widespread innovation in cooperation with local and regional partners in order to accelerate the deployment of energy-efficient electrification infrastructure for electrical cars, buses and trains.”
The demo e-bus and charging infrastructure from Nova Bus is scheduled to travel across the U.S. this fall and encourage transit authorities to jump on board, contributing to the electrification of urban transit.
Since 2010, ABB has sold approximately 5,000 fast chargers around the world for passenger cars and electric buses. According to the company, utilization of technology that comprises cloud-based remote monitoring and control and program upgrades via the Internet guarantees quick response times and a high degree of availability.