I would like to expressly point out that this is just one city (my home city Cologne) in Germany, dozens of other cities have a similar development. Extrapolate that to the whole country, the countries in Europe and the rest of the world! The transformation process is not a rumour or speculation, it is in full, exponential swing and can no longer be stopped! The infrastructures for this are being systematically built and expanded. New jobs are being created. Cities are becoming quieter and more breathable. Our transport world is changing inexorably for the better, albeit still far too slowly in my view, but the point of critical mass has long since been passed and the falling dominoes are picking up speed...
Google Translation: Cologne: KVB puts Porz electric bus depot online. The Cologne transport company (KVB) has put its newly completed Porz electric bus depot into operation. The new KVB location will accommodate more than 100 electric buses and will be the first purely electric bus depot in North Rhine-Westphalia. The new KVB depot is located on Kaiserstrasse in Cologne-Porz and covers an area of 63,000 square meters , which is equivalent to approximately nine football fields. According to the public transport operator, the site is the heart of the previous Dielektra site and lay fallow for around 20 years. While Dielektra (originally Meirowsky AG, later Siemens) manufactured transformers and insulators for the electrical industry here, KVB will house a good 100 electric buses there in the future. The new depot will be built in two construction phases, the first of which has now been completed. At the same time, lines 160, 161, 162, 165 and 166 will be converted from diesel to electric buses. The commissioning of the depot is part of the “Smart City KVB” program, with which the Cologne transport operator is completing the complete switch to buses with alternative drives aims for 2030. The KVB estimates investments in the new location in Cologne-Polz at around 35 million euros, with around 12.2 million euros being contributed by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. In addition to the classic parking areas, the electric bus depot primarily includes the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Buses, a workshop and a car wash as well as a transport service building. The Rheinische Netzgesellschaft is also building a substation. “Once fully expanded, the new depot will house around 350 jobs – in driving services, in the workshop and in driving service management,” says an accompanying statement. RheinEnergie supplies electricity via two 10 kV lines. The e-buses are located in the open air and are charged there via the charging infrastructure located on a structure above the vehicles. The KVB sister company RheinEnergie currently supplies alternating current via two 10 kilovolt lines, which is registered in a transfer station on the premises and distributed to the depot's consumers (workshop, dispatch building, etc.) and the charging infrastructure. The 10 kV alternating current is transformed to 750 volts in two transformers, divided into chargers and converted into direct current, the transport company says. “The power flows are then distributed to the charging hoods via cables along the traverses, whereby each charger can control two charging hoods.” If an e-bus drives into one of the parking spaces, the driver moves the electric bus’s current collector in the direction of the charging hood by pressing a button loading hood above. The pantograph and charging hood come into contact and the technology exchanges the relevant data. The e-bus requests the necessary amount of electricity - depending on the battery charge level, the time available and the next line operation. The next driver releases the pantograph from the loading hood at the push of a button and can start the journey. “The electric buses are charged with green electricity,” emphasize those responsible. The depot itself - despite the extensive sealing - is designed as a "green depot" - including green roofs and facades as well as a total of nine photovoltaic systems with up to 440 kWp.
In terms of buildings, the workshop with attached social rooms for employees, a car wash and a transport service building for the scheduling of drivers and vehicles as well as the control of operations. Car and bicycle parking spaces are available for employees to travel individually. There is also an energy center in which, among other things, the heating of the buildings and the provision of hot water as well as the fire water pumps are controlled. The KVB electric bus depot in Porz is the first purely electric bus depot in North Rhine-Westphalia. At the same time, the charging infrastructure at the existing KVB North depot in Cologne-Riehl is currently being completed as part of the second expansion stage. The workshop there had previously been expanded to meet the needs of e-buses and the first expansion stage of the charging infrastructure was implemented in several sections. In the future, the Hürth depot of the Schilling Group (SOV) will also be converted - a subsidiary of KVB.Schneller in the operating area on the right bank of the Rhine. Porz is now intended to simplify bus operations: With the commissioning of the newly created electric bus depot, those for the urban area on the right bank of the Rhine will in future have to be The buses required no longer arrive from the north depot in Riehl, as was usually the case up to now. Around 40 percent of KVB bus traffic takes place on the right bank of the Rhine. According to the KVB, the previous route from Riehl to the “Porz Markt” stop, for example, was 25 kilometers long and took around 35 minutes. “These long empty trips are now avoided. Even if replacement bus services are required at short notice, the districts on the right bank of the Rhine can now be reached more quickly in many cases, which is an advantage in terms of customer orientation." According to the public transport operator, charging infrastructure will continue to be set up at final stops in the city area in parallel to the depots, for example currently at the said “Porz Markt” stop. In the future, however, it will generally no longer be necessary to recharge e-buses on the route, as the performance of the batteries is now sufficiently high, it is said. The charging infrastructure in the city area still retains its importance in the event of disruptions at depots or in service. The entire KVB bus fleet (including SOV) currently comprises 407 vehicles, of which 81 are electric. A further 12 e-buses are in the approval process and another 24 e-buses are in production or shortly before delivery. And: The KVB has already initiated the award process for a further 46 electric buses. The people of Cologne were once among the pioneers: with the conversion of line 133 in December 2016, according to the transport company, an existing inner-city line in Europe was converted to operation with battery-powered articulated buses for the first time. Lines 126 (“MuLI line”), 141, 145 and 149 (in the urban area on the left bank of the Rhine) as well as lines 150, 153, 159 and 196 (in the urban area on the right bank of the Rhine) gradually followed. KVB calls for a “constructive way out” of funding Dilemma: The commissioning of the new Porz electric bus depot comes at a time when the federal government is withdrawing from financial support for the drive change in public transport. The KVB states that it has so far only been able to implement its “Smart City KVB” program with significant support from the federal and state governments. “So far, the state has contributed around 18.5 million euros to the purchase of e-buses, and another around 26 million euros are outstanding. The federal government contributed around 26.3 million euros. The state is also active in converting the bus depots and charging infrastructure in the city area. The industry association VDV has signaled to the federal government that there is a need for discussion. Without a joint design of the drive transition, it is in danger of failing, emphasize those responsible at KVB. Stefanie Haaks, Chairwoman of the KVB, chooses clear words: “I expect the federal government to find a constructive way out and also that the next transport ministers' conference will push for an early solution. Transport companies need this funding to achieve their climate protection goals. Climate protection is an economic task and cannot therefore be passed on exclusively to companies.”
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