Electrifying Public Transport And Making Commutes Safer

In the latest Busworld Southeast Asia congress, the rise of electrification in buses and coaches and the need to make commutes safer took centrestage. Sumesh Soman delves deeper.

In the latest Busworld Southeast Asia congress, the rise of electrification in buses and coaches and the need to make commutes safer took centrestage. Sumesh Soman delves deeper.

Buses and coaches are being electrified globally. While some may be at a more advanced stage than the others, on the whole, the end objective is the same. Attaining net zero particulate matter emissions and reducing the carbon footprint are being pursued with renewed vigour to mitigate climate change. In the automotive sector, Original

Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) across markets like in Southeast Asia are working in tandem with their respective governments to put in place the infrastructure for charging in case of emobility and for building a hydrogen or gasbased economy. Averred Jan Deman, Knowledge Director at Busworld, “Electrification is the future and not just for passenger vehicles but for commercial vehicles as well. The way to zero emission is an important issue that is asked of us from society and we will deliver on what is asked of us.” “In Southeast Asia, only about 10 per cent of greenhouse gases come from transport, 60 per cent of gases come from energy production and 15 per cent from the industry. And from within that 10 per cent, only five per cent comes from

buses and coaches, while 54 per cent is attributed to individual cars. So the main evolution we need is to realise the need to shift from individual transport to collective road transport, ” he expressed.

In Indonesia, the challenges are manifold. At the heart of it, the need has been to replace an ageing bus and coach fleet and fast meet the modern demands of ‘coach tourism’. The stakeholders agreed unanimously on the need to make commuting safer along with such advancements in the aftermath of the pandemic. Notably, Indonesia is known the world over for infrastructure developments like the TransJakarta Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) as the stepping stone to its robust connectivity options built around bus and coach commute. At the Congress, it was evident how the in-cabin environment has turned a priority in the post pandemic world. Indonesia, undoubtedly is eager to crossover with their plans with a swift execution roadmap.

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

The transition to accessible and safe mobility led by public transportation can be made possible by four major pillars: Charging infrastructure, inclusion of safety measures in buses and coaches to prevent viral transmission, strategy and innovation, and leveraging prospects of urban transport. The first two pillars aim at cleaner tailpipe emissions as well as making interiors safe for the travellers. An efficient and effective network of charging stations across the country will help buses and coaches traverse through the country without hindrances or range anxiety among fleet operators and commuters alike on one end of the spectrum. On the other end of the spectrum, new integrations for onboard air filtration and secluded seating layouts are expected to ensure the safety of the

onboard passengers and for the crew. The last two pillars, it was agreed, aim at drawing in people from private means of transport to public means. This when realised can curtail the road congestion and at the same time help reduce the carbon footprint.

It was opined that a series of routes have to be worked out to encourage people to opt for public transport. These routes must be dedicated corridors for faster commute and extend to frequently visited destinations on the intercity and intracity routes. The strategy on the whole is to use the first two pillars for instilling the confidence in commuters on fronts like range anxiety related breakdowns and negating any apprehensions on non-compliance of Covid-19 protocols. Once achieved, the idea is to scale up the successful pilot to both intercity and intracity routes.

CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE

Charging infrastructure is the foundation of emobility. When it comes to electrification of public and private transportation, it is true to both passenger and commercial vehicles. The need of the hour is to scale up the charging infrastructure to meet the needs of mass electrification. It must replicate the accessibility of petrol and diesel refuelling stations spread out to every few kilometres across the urban and the rural road network. The congress drew attention to key players involved in laying a strong foundation. ABB Ltd., ZF Friedrichshafen AG, PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) is an Indonesian government-owned corporation which has a monopoly on electricity distribution in Indonesia and generates the majority of the country’s electrical power along with Indonesia Transportation Society (ITS). For instance, PLN plays a key role in building Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) across the country. An estimated 168 EVCS are known to be built by PLN of which 101 units will be handed over to the private sector alone.

They also provide with predefined business schemes that comprises tariffs suited for a diverse range of vehicles and consumers. The company offers a EV charger range of 25 kW, 150 kW, 50 kW and 150-450 kW. The 150 kW charging facility among these is expected to be an ultra charge station, rest being fast charging stations. Of these, the 450 kW facility will be reserved for buses and coaches. The company is ready to build an ecosystem of EVCS across Indonesia in partnership with the private sector. Added Deman, “We have a very important role to play and in the evolution phase we have to look at new players as well. The energy suppliers and energy distributors will be crucial here to work hand in hand with the manufacturer, operator and charging infrastructure distributors.” He urged these stakeholders to come forward and play their part in building a robust ecosystem.

ITS is playing its part by playing a pivotal role here. It has set goals for the transition to electric buses and coaches. The plan is to invest in 100200 e-buses and go fully electric by the year 2030 with a fleet strength of 14,000 e-buses. ITS will also delegate tasks to various ministries for development of EVs and hybrids besides looking at the end-toend development of e-mobility. It aspires to introduce 2,200 electric or hybrid cars and 2.13 million electric bicycles along

with 1000 charging stations by 2025. As the apex body, its endeavour is to help private companies looking to make the big switch.

ABB will work on providing electric depot charging stations capable of charging multiple buses and coaches at once. The depots are expected to be built with a plug-in facility as well as a pantograph charging facility. There will be provisions for onroute and destination charging as well. ZF will provide electric transmissions for these e-buses and coaches. It is banking on the electric portal axle AxTraX AVE with an integrated wheel hub drive as a solution for electric buses, hybrid buses and trolleybuses. It will also offer the Central drive CeTrax which can be integrated into vehicle designs using a conventional driveline layout. It is claimed to be suited to a variety of special vehicles including terminal tractors, light crane vehicles or municipal vehicles. Both are

known to peak at 250 kW and 300 kW respectively.

SAFETY AND INNOVATION

Even if the charging ecosystem is built in place to be functional, people are anxious about active safety measures pertaining to the recurring waves of the pandemic. Viruses aside, air filtration to prevent respiratory diseases is high on their agenda too. The perception of public transport lacking these is said to have pushed the demand for private vehicles. Jung Woo Park, President Director at Daimler Commercial Vehicles Indonesia (DCVI) opined, “To cope with this Covid-19 situation, we focus on four areas inside the bus for the passenger’s safety. It includes rapid air exchange, filters, driver protection, handsfree disinfectant dispenser.” Reiterating the shift away from public transportation, Park drew attention to it being a tough challenge to tackle. “Buses and coaches have to make major shifts in their seating layouts, and integrate the cabin with latest devices to ensure passenger safety,” he pointed.

Daimer, Adi Putro, Hispacold and Busworld Foundation showcased the new normal with active safety inclusions like onboard rapid air exchange, particle filters with antiviral properties, driver protection door that segregates the driver’s cabin from the passenger seating, sensor controlled disinfectant dispenser, UV rays for sanitisation, and others like a no contact thermometer and single seat layout to adhere to Covid-19 protocols. Veronica Mesa, Commercial Manager at Hispacold, Irizar stated, “The product basically focusses on three things, eliminate bad odour from passengers commuting long distance, reduce bacteria contact in public transport and lastly to reduce or eliminate contraction of virus altogether in the bus.” Believed to have the potential of curtailing untoward contraction and instill passenger peace of mind, the companies have gone a step beyond by meeting their Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) obligations through initiatives like rolling out mobile ICUs and PCR units laden with mandated health equipment and test facilities to benefit the society at large.

FUTURE PROSPECTS

The people and the bus transport industry, it is clear, need a nudge to force the switch from fossil fuel consuming buses to e-buses and coaches. Incentives, policies and schemes will work as a boon for both the supply-side and the demand-side. In Southeast Asia, in 2016, public transport constituted 24 per cent of the traffic which went up to 40 per cent in 2019. The gains were reversed by the serious hit of the pandemic in 2020. The industry has set a modest target of reaching 50 per cent by 2024. From thereon, by 2029, it aims to attain 60 per cent levels. Besides providing an integrated transport led by buses and coaches, road access restrictions will be used to deter people from using private vehicles. This will include the use of Electronic Road Pricing (ERP), increasing parking tariff, provision of offstreet parking, replacing the on-street parking and provision of ride facilities around the public transport nodes.

The third and final pivot is development of network capacity through ITS with initiatives like building flyover or underpass on main conjunction, wider road sides for pedestrians and arrangement for street vendors. The bus fleet will also witness an addition of buses to meet the projected demands in this shift to public transport. Passenger journey will have added incentives like superfast wi-fi, real time bus tracking, vending machine, QR/FR payment methods, loyalty program, onboard entertainment, wayfinding to name a few.