Volvo to provide EV service at Birmingham airport

609 Volvo Bus is to deliver six single-deck electric buses to serve as an environmentally-friendly transport service at Birmingham airport in the UK from October.

Nick Barton, CEO at Birmingham Airport, says: “Since 2012 the Airport has reduced its CO2 by 20% per passenger. Implementing the six electric buses will work towards lowering our CO2 per passenger even further.”

Volvo says its 7900e vehicles come with an electric motor and four high capacity 200 kWh Lithium-ion batteries, which means no tailpipe emissions.

The buses will operate 24/7 and be recharged en route using 4540 ABB’s opportunity-charging pantograph system.

ABB says its ‘OppCharge’ will charge buses within two to six minutes, removing the need for vehicles to stop off at a depot to be topped up with power.

Initially, two 300kW pantographs will be available outside the airport terminal, with plans to install further ones around the bus route if services are expanded. Also, two 100kW ‘plug in’ charging points will be available in the airport’s coach park.

Looking ahead, the charging points will be made available to other bus operators who adopt electric vehicles.

Volvo is not the only company looking to introduce an electric mobility service at an airport. Last September, 4190 Car2go <%$Linker:2External<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary />000link-external expanded falsehttp://www.itsinternational.com/categories/utc/news/car2go-expands-electric-car-sharing-service-to-amsterdam-airport-schiphol/falsefalse%>its electric car-sharing service to members travelling between Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and the capital.