Together with transport company Qbuzz and the Dutch knowledge organization on mobility (CROW), the Province of Utrecht and the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences are working on realizing the two actions that have been formulated in the action plan in phase 2.
The province and the university are monitoring the development of the actions together. They relate these developments to other research projects, especially on the storage of energy. Both actions will have a relation with the upcoming tender of e-buses.
Action 1: Monitoring Zero Emission bus-performance
Province of Utrecht has made a new monitoring plan based on a tool from CROW, it gives insight into the performance of the ZE buses and the emissions. The province will outline the monitoring requirements in the new programme of demands for the upcoming tender of e-buses in the region of Utrecht. On the development of the monitoring tool for future applications the province works together with the transport company Qbuzz and knowledge organization CROW.
Action 2: Storage at e-bus depot (battery management systems)
The energy network tends to become overloaded with the increasing number of e-vehicles. It must handle with more storage and should take peaks out of the network.
As the energy prices have risen, it is wise to anticipate the moments when the energy demand is high and the production cannot handle this, and when the charging energy relatively cheaply available (off-peak). The purpose of this action is to save costs and avoid congestion on the grid.
The province, the university and the stakeholders wish to gain experience about the technology, (prevention of) grid congestion and learn from smart charging business cases. Qbuzz, the transport company involved, was already working on peak-shaving and wants to gain more experience with the energy-storage in for instance containers with old batteries at the e-bus depot.
Within eBussed, the Dutch partners are also building on the experiences already gained within VHH in Hamburg. The first results are hopefully seen in March 2023.
