Following the development of ABB’s comprehensive strategy, which has seen the creation of products and solutions for the emerging electric bus market, ABB Group has announced its support for the European wide, Clean Bus Deployment Initiative launched this July in Brussels.
With the Paris climate agreement underway, this new EU initiative will see the launch of a Declaration of Intent, which will encourage vehicle and charger manufacturers, transport operators and regional and local authorities to promote the use of and roll-out of clean, alternatively fuelled buses across Europe.
The Clean Bus Deployment Initiative is the first of its kind and will encourage collaborative working and action between infrastructure providers and bus manufacturers. It will see the current share of alternatively fuelled buses in the European bus fleet increase from approximately 10-12% to 30% in 2025. The declaration will also encourage the need to zero emission buses and promote the ways in which low emission mobility can bring significant economic and social benefits.
ABB has been a pioneer in enabling smarter, greener and emission free transport networks across the globe through its EV charging infrastructure and its ABB Ability platform, which allows for end to end network management for commercial vehicles such as buses.
This type of solution and service availability will be essential to enable such EU initiatives to get off the ground and harness the potential of low emission mobility networks.
Frank Muehlon, head of ABB’s global business for electric vehicle charging comments: “This new EU initiative aligns with our vision for creating a smarter, reliable and more efficient world and we are very excited about its potential.
“Our aim is to deliver open standard, scalable technology through continuous innovation by working with our markets to ensure that EV charging can be made accessible and compatible to all.”
Despite Europe lagging in its adoption of electric vehicles, compared to its Asian and Chinese counterparts who have had over 173,000 electric busses on the road since 2015, the tide is turning and public support for electric vehicles is growing. This new EU declaration will go some way to cement Europe’s future in electric vehicles and build on the development of a sustainable transport network for every citizen.
The ABB portfolio includes a comprehensive range of products and services to lay firm foundations from which the initiative can be managed and sustainably maintained.
The portfolio leads with infrastructure, which supports a number of charge points across any bus network, supports all EV charging standards and integrates three key areas of operation, including onboard components, and connected services.
The ABB Ability platform also provides operators and transport managers with a scalable solution from to vehicle and vehicle to grid, for any location type and connected service, while ABB’s internet connected chargers enable fast global service, pro-active and transparent fault finding and maintenance, and fast payment.
ABB has provided charging solutions as part of its drive to promote sustainable mobility since 2010 and has sold more than 5,000 connected DC fast-chargers around the world for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles.
