Articulated Battery Bus with IMC® 500

With the procurement of four articulated battery buses with IMC® 500 SVE, the public transport company in Esslingen, can operate the new generation of battery buses on wireless lines. As the electric drive of the bus, the battery and the charging of the battery have to be perfectly harmonised to the infrastructure, Kiepe Electric’s part in the project is decisive.

The batteries of the electric buses are charged when the buses operate under the overhead contact line (about 1/3 of the line length) in accordance with the In Motion Charging (IMC®) concept. Thus, IMC® buses can be operated non-stop in passenger service throughout the day. IMC® 500 from Kiepe Electric allows powerful energy transfer of 500 kW from the infrastructure.

into the vehicle in motion, which means that sufficient power is available for reliable and fast charging of the battery – and for acceleration, for driving up-hill. The charging concept also includes a charging power reserve to operate without overhead contact line (i.e. without IMC® road), e.g. to by-pass road work. Moreover, overloading is automatically prevented when the network shows local or temporary deficiencies because the current input is adapted. This feature is controlled by Kiepe’s intelligent energy management system, which utilises the infrastructure optimally.

Scope of delivery: Kiepe Electric delivers the entire electrical traction equipment, the auxiliary power system, the traction batteries and the automatic current collector system.