Moscow electric buses will be recharged – Picture of the day – Kommersant

Moscow is expanding its charging network for city electric buses, purchasing 64 ultra-fast devices worth RUB 713 million. Stations must fully charge the electric bus in 55 minutes, according to the tender documentation. In March, the city has already purchased 127 similar stations, having spent 1.6 billion rubles. Such charges cannot be “completely domestic,” the expert says. He sees no problems with the supply of imported components and engines for the electric buses themselves.

The competition for the purchase of 64 ultra-fast charging stations was announced by the State Unitary Enterprise Mosgortrans. The supplier is expected to provide 400-volt devices in “monoblock design” and “current transmission device masts” that would have worked for at least 15 years at temperatures from -40 ° C to + 40 ° C (with a five-year warranty period). Stations must fully charge the 160-kilowatt electric bus batteries in no more than 55 minutes. The contract amount is 713 million rubles; stations must be delivered to the customer within 300 days.

In July 2022, Mosgortrans reported that 202 ultra-fast charging stations for electric buses were installed at the terminal stations of routes and in bus depots (capable of charging it in six to ten minutes). At the same time, in March 2022, the company already purchased 127 ultra-fast devices for 1.6 billion rubles. The head of the Moscow Department of Transport, Maxim Liksutov, previously reported that 200 such devices would be installed in Moscow next year.

Mr. Liksutov told Kommersant that he did not expect problems with the supply of components for such equipment: “Electric buses are produced by a fairly large number of manufacturers, for example, from Asia.”

Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline-Analytics, clarified that ultra-fast chargers for electric buses “cannot be completely domestic.” However, the expert also does not expect problems with the supply of parts for them: “This is not the story where we are heavily dependent on unfriendly countries. The issue of delivery from China is being solved.”

Mr. Burmistrov made it clear that he does not expect problems with the supply of parts for the electric buses themselves. It should be noted that both models used in Moscow – LiAZ-6274 and KamAZ-6282 – use the electroportal bridge of the German concern ZF (produces, for example, automobile gearboxes for BMW, Jaguar and other brands). “All electric motors are being replaced by Chinese ones. Shipbuilders and manufacturers of electric locomotives have already taken this path,” said Mr. Burmistrov. It should be noted that in 2019 the GAZ group was unable to take part in the capital competition for the next batch of electric buses, losing the contract to KamAZ. Then the market said that the reason was the refusal of foreign suppliers to work with the group against the backdrop of sanctions against the assets of Oleg Deripaska. The GAZ Group was included in the SDN list of the US Treasury in 2018, and another electric bus manufacturer, KamAZ, in June 2022. At the same time, in 2022, the city authorities did not purchase electric buses.

However, Mr. Burmistrov says that electric motors for such equipment are not subject to sanctions, and he does not expect “fundamental risks” with their supplies from China.

In turn, Maxim Liksutov in December 2022 announced that Moscow would buy “several dozen small-class electric buses” from the GAZ group: “These electric buses are suitable for routes with low passenger traffic and where a large car cannot pass,” the official explained.

Alexander Voronov