Opbrid Busbaar Backing Open Standards For Overhead Electric Bus Charging Stations

Following the announcement of public support from ABB and Siemens, Opbrid Busbaar has decided to publicly back the standardization of fast overhead electric bus conductive charging systems, according to recent reports.

To be more specific, the company is backing the Opportunity Charging System (OCS) from Volvo — which allows for very fast DC charging of electric of hybrid buses. The use of such fast charging systems for only a few minutes at the end of a bus route would allow electric buses to run up to 24 hours a day.

Standardization will presumably allow for faster conversion to electric buses (from diesel ones) owing to ease of equipment switching/swapping — greater interoperability between the products of different manufacturers of course simplifies some things.

The CEO of Opbrid CEO, Roger Bedell, commented: “Opbrid has provided very similar overhead conductive systems since 2010 for Volvo, Hybricon, New Flyer and others, so this technology is very familiar to us. We commend Volvo for the vision to make their OCS an open standard for the industry. Our goal is the same as theirs, to allow any bus to charge at any charging station.”

The currently available Opbrid Busbaar charging station is already compatible with Volvo offerings. Various versions — including those designed specifically for bus depots, or for curbside installations — are currently on offer. Variations in charging output and/or speed are also on offer of course — altogether representing a fairly comprehensive suite of solutions available to those in the market for such a system.

Image Credit: Opbrid Busbaar