Ostrava transport company is building a charge station for electric buses in the city center

The Ostrava Transport Company (DPO) is building a charger for electric buses near the city center for around CZK 30 million. It should be ready in the spring. It will operate a fleet of 16 electric buses on lines heading to Hlučínsko, said DPO spokeswoman Tereza Šnoblová today. At the same time, the company signed a contract for the construction of a home station for 18 electric buses on the premises in Vítkovická Street for more than CZK 36 million.

The fast charging station in Valchařská street will have three arms of continuous charging in the European OppCharge standard. Electric buses will be charged there every time they stay at the terminal. Charging will take six to ten minutes each time. "Siemens is the manufacturer of the charging station for more than 21 million crowns. The infrastructure is provided by Hroší stavby Morava for more than nine million crowns," said the spokeswoman.

Lines heading to Hlučínsko, which are now redirected to the Vozovna trolleybus stop, will return to the Křižíkova stop from mid-December. Electric buses will start running on them from March at the latest.

"After the launch of the pilot project of the first two electric buses with continuous charging and with a charger in the OppCharge standard in Svinov in 2018, today we are talking about a fully systemic development of clean mobility in bus transport in Ostrava. Valchařská is another piece of the puzzle, which also includes a new charging infrastructure at the terminal Hranečník, operating since this spring," said CEO and Chairman of the Board of DPO Daniel Morys.

According to him, Ostrava will have three strategic points where the electric buses will be charged and from where they will depart on their routes. "This will significantly reduce the production of CO2 in the given places," said the director.

Part of the station in Vítkovická street will be a shelter with a distribution box for mobile chargers used for balancing the batteries of electric buses at night. Construction could begin at the turn of October and November, the contractor will be Společnost Elektromobilita Vítkovická MSEM-ELMOZ.

As of January 1, DPO had 294 buses in its fleet, of which 227 were gas-powered and eight were electric. Since May, 24 new electric buses with continuous recharging have been gradually put into operation. It also operates 259 trams and 70 trolleybuses.

Therefore, high energy prices burden him a lot. The director said that the good news for DPOs is that they are among the entities that will be affected by the capping of electricity and gas prices. "It gives us a kind of certainty for the future and the ability to plan costs. Given what has been going on in the energy markets since last August, we have partially lost this ability," said Morys. According to him, the company managed the situation thanks to the support fund established by the city

Morys stated that ecological operations are always more expensive than conventional ones, also because modern technologies that are more environmentally friendly are more expensive. However, public transport affects the quality of the air that even those who do not use public transport breathe.

"We have built the operation of the vehicle fleet today on two energy raw materials, namely electricity and natural gas, which I believe will gradually replace hydrogen and electricity. At the moment, these commodities, with their high price, enter the cost per kilometer more than before August last year, but I believe the tide will turn soon," said Morys.

Source: CTK