Viriciti smart charging rollout at QBuzz
ViriCiti has started rolling out its largest smart charging implementation with 163 charger connectors for Netherlands operator Qbuzz connected to the ViriCiti dashboard. Smart charging is being rolled out for Heliox chargers, with ABB chargers following soon. The company claims that this represents the largest smart charging implementation of its kind outside China.
With ViriCiti’s smart charging solution, Qbuzz will be able to manage Heliox and ABB chargers which provide a total installed capacity of 24.04MW, making use of advanced functionality including load balancing, scheduled load balancing, and remote start for pre-conditioning designed to reduce costs and improve charging efficiency.
Through load balancing, smart charging eliminates infrastructure limitations by allowing users to set a maximum power per charger group, and control the charging speed of individual chargers, says ViriCiti.
It also allows operators to reduce costs associated with demand charges, a process known as ‘peak shaving’.
Scheduled load balancing enables it to further reduce energy costs by making use of day/night energy tariffs, where applicable.
By avoiding exceeding the maximum grid capacity and by optimising the charging schedule, operators could have a larger number of electric buses in operation than the existing charging infrastructure would otherwise allow.
“Qbuzz is taking the next step on the road towards zero-emission transport,” says Tim van Twuijver, sustainability manager, Qbuzz.
“Smart charging is of great importance in this respect, helping us achieve an optimal use of our large electric bus fleets. We think that our collaboration with ViriCiti will allow us to have a more efficient approach to charging our electric fleet.”