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Energy transition: The necessary evolution of bus depots to accommodate electric vehicles with Comeca

1 July 2022

CFTACO Périgueux, a subsidiary of Transdev, was equipped with a "traditional" bus depot, designed to provide parking space for buses and carry out the

CFTACO Périgueux, a subsidiary of Transdev, was equipped with a "traditional" bus depot, designed to provide parking space for buses and carry out the necessary maintenance.

As part of the move to green energy for the fleet of public passenger transport vehicles in the territory of the Dordogne, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region and CFTACO - a subsidiary of Transdev Nouvelle-Aquitaine - have 2 new electric coaches. The Bergerac and Périgueux depots are upgrading to accommodate this transition to green energy: 2 Comeca recharging stations allow these electric vehicles to be recharged.The infrastructure of CFTACO Périgueux and Bergerac must continue to respond to the traditional activities of a coach depot while gradually entering the era of energy transition.

1. How do you adapt your traditional depot to a new electric fleet?

CFTACO Périgueux, a subsidiary of Transdev, was equipped with a "traditional" bus depot, designed to provide parking space for buses and carry out the necessary maintenance.

Originally, the depot was organised to meet the needs of fossil fuel engines. The replacement of part of the fleet by 2 electric buses requires some changes to this traditional ICE based infrastructure: the power supply of the site and the remote monitoring of the charging station.

Definition and supply of the new charging station

The project includes the creation of a dedicated area for charging electric vehicles. The characteristics of this new area depend on the number of buses to be charged simultaneously and the time available for charging each bus.
Indeed, these criteria have an impact on the choice of the number and type of charging points to be installed as well as the power to be delivered for each charging point.

To define the electrical architecture of this depot, a power balance is carried out on the link between the network and the chargers, and then the design and sizing are finalised.
Depending on the power involved, the installation is low voltage or includes a high voltage (HV) delivery point, a transformer and one or more low voltage switchboards.

The installation can be connected to ensure remote monitoring and maintenance, but also to carry out telemetry of the data of the electrical infrastructure and/or the recharging infrastructure. It can also be managed by a "smart charging" solution that optimises the sizing of the installation and, therefore,reduces its cost, while ensuring the availability of the fleet.

2. The COMECA turnkey charging station

COMECA was able to meet Transdev's needs with a complete, connected recharging solution adapted to the isolated depot.

This solution includes the roadworks / power supply, the supply of an AMBER 120kW double socket CCS charging station and a low voltage electrical panel. All supervised by a COMECA IoT (Internet of Things) compatible connected system.

The focus is on scalability, with electrification adapting to the addition of electric vehicle charging stations.

From the definition of the architecture to the commissioning, COMECA supported Transdev in the optimisation of the total cost of acquisition and ownership.

Our teams also trained the operator on the complete value chain: electrification, the charging station and the connected IoT system.

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