Volvo Buses
Global
Volvo Buses
Global
Situated 70 degrees north, well within the Arctic Circle, weather conditions are about as extreme as they can get in Hammerfest, Norway. After successfully operating electric buses through the first winter, Tide Buss is getting ready for a second season.
Hammerfest is the largest of several small towns nestled in the far north of Norway. Here, sub-zero temperatures are the norm in winter, and it is not unusual for the town to be paralysed by heavy snowstorms. After successfully completing its first winter season operating nine Volvo 7900 Electric buses, Tide Buss is ready to go again.
“All in all, we've been very happy with Volvo’s electric buses. We've only had one stoppage where the bus ran out of power, but that was due to a failure in our own routines,” says Trond Inge Hausmann, Operations Manager at Tide Buss, the town’s public transport operator. “We’ve also received positive feedback from the local authority, Finnmark. We’re proud of that, but we want to do even better.”
But how did Hammerfest end up with an electric bus fleet?
Jan-Helge Sandvåg, Technical Director at Tide Buss explains: “When Finnmark invited tenders for bus services, it had a substantial weighting under environmental criteria that made it attractive and advantageous to offer electric buses, so that’s what we did.”
Tide Buss won the tender, and work began on the procurement process and calculating the lowest possible TCO. There were other important factors to consider too, including a good aftermarket system. With this in mind, the operator felt that Volvo Buses was a natural partner.
“We have long experience with them, and in our fleet of a total of 2,450 buses, Volvo Buses is the largest single brand,” says Jan-Helge Sandvåg. “We've had Volvo electric buses in Trondheim since 2019. So, we had a good foundation when we started this process. Volvo Buses also delivered good offers and solutions.”
Nonetheless, to make this operation work, the specification had to be spot on. In close collaboration, Tide and Volvo Buses carefully balanced several different parameters to ensure the best possible solution for the extreme weather conditions.
In Trondheim, the buses have pantographs on the roof for fast charging at each terminus, as a supplement to depot charging. To meet the climate demands in Hammerfest, all charging has to take place overnight at the depot and the buses need larger battery packs.
It was also important for Tide to opt for high-quality chargers that were approved for temperatures of -30 degrees and had undergone extensive testing in this type of environment. Another essential part of the specification was the provision of reliable and energy efficient heating during very cold periods.
“There is a diesel heater on the Volvo 7900 Electric with a capacity of up to 300 kW – a solution that helps when it's cold. The bus loses heat very quickly when the doors are constantly opened, and the auxiliary heater kicks in at a defined temperature. This helps to ensure that we have enough battery capacity during periods of cold and wind,’ says Jan-Helge Sandvåg.
The Volvo 7900 Electric buses run in the town centre and nearby villages. Eight of them are in continuous operation, the last is a reserve bus. Six of the buses feature the largest battery packs Volvo offers.
“We're rotating them a bit. This was completely new to us, so we had to spend some time gathering experience in terms of consumption, charging and power. We had a few teething problems, but that's the case with everything,’ says Trond Inge Hausmann.
For Tide Buss, it is clear that operating electric buses is a completely different way of thinking to operating diesel buses. For example, some of the bus routes had to be adapted based on battery capacity. This became clear when one of the buses ran out of power.
“It's important to follow the routines, but also adjust them if we need to. We are learning by doing and it’s been exciting to take on this responsibility,” says Trond Inge Hausmann. “It also helps that we have very good people who have been involved in this before, if not here in Hammerfest, then elsewhere in the country.”
Hammerfest was the very first town in Northern Europe to have electric street lights back in 1891. Now, the town’s buses also run on electricity.
“All in all, last winter showed that electric operation is entirely possible, even at 70 degrees north,” says Trond Inge Hausmann. “We made it through extreme weather, and managed to keep things running smoothly. So, we’re very pleased with that.”
