At Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH (rnv), the first 6 electric city buses are in everyday use. Our ChargePilot® enables optimal control of the connected load: full power for one bus during the day, reduced to a third for all buses at night.
Sustainable city transport
In Mannheim, the transportation company Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH (rnv) has put the first six all-electric city buses into everyday use.
Smart energy management for electric buses
We have contributed a custom-designed charging and energy management system so that the bus batteries, each with a capacity of 243 kilowatt hours, are always optimally charged at the lowest cost possible.
"The connection capacity required for our electric buses is well managed by the charging and energy management system from The Mobility House. During the day, when only one bus is charging in the depot, we can charge our buses at full capacity. At night, when all the buses are in the depot at the same time, we can reduce the charging power to one-third. It might still be fairly simple with only three vehicles, but as soon as transitioning to a fleet is under consideration, that level of control is essential."
Stefan Prüfer,
Head of Offer & Product Development at rnv
Optimization of battery power and range
By integrating a scheduling system, the software will also be able to incorporate the battery charge level, the departure times, and the bus’s energy requirements for its next tour in its optimization calculations. The batteries can also be preconditioned, which means preheating or cooling when needed to increase the maximum range.
This prevents expensive load peaks and reduces the need for network expansion. This means you can keep investment and operating costs low. The fleet management system also provides an overview of the state of the charging infrastructure as well as the battery levels of vehicles in real time. This allows early detection of problems and ensures dependable operations.