| Abstract |
15 seconds is the time needed at bus stops to disembark and embark passengers.That's also the time we need to put some energy into the full electric TOSA largecapacity bus. Like a trolleybus, the TOSA bus collects the required energy during itsjourney, but without overhead lines. Like an overnight charging battery bus, TOSA hasautonomy to ensure the service, but with a small and long-life battery - no oversizingand limited recycling. At first glance, it looks like a paradox, but by selecting theappropriate technology and ensuring management of energy within the most optimaloperating range means that a small battery has a much longer life time than the oneused in an overnight charging battery bus. The technical architecture of thisopportunity-charging principle, that we call Flash charging, will be presented along withits operational, economical and energy efficiency requirements. To achieve the energytransfer in such a short time, this bus has a laser controlled moving arm that connectsto an overhead receptacle at some bus stops, e.g. every forth in Line 23. The dockingprocedure is fast, achieved in less than a second.The first TOSA articulated bus has been running in Geneva since May 2013. Conceptand experience from the field will be shared, as well as the configuration fordeployment on the full line 23 in Geneva by 2017. |
