Features
Zurich, Switzerland
24-02-2021
3 min read
Bringing electric buses and cleaner air to Pakistan’s cities
Hitachi Energy has joined forces with electric bus manufacturer Skywell and bus operator Daewoo to provide a complete emission-free e-bus solution to help Pakistan achieve its ambitious e-vehicle target and improve air quality in the country’s cities.
Electric bus transportation is taking off in Pakistan. In mid-2020, the government announced an ambitious target to make at least 30 percent of all motor vehicles electric by 2030, including trucks, buses, cars, rickshaws and motorcycles.
Pakistan is the world’s fifth most populous country. Air pollution is increasingly a problem in its cities, due largely to greenhouse gas emissions from petrol and diesel fueled vehicles, which impact air quality and the health and well-being of people.
By working together Daewoo, Skywell and Hitachi Energy will provide Pakistan’s urban transportation planners with a complete solution – e-buses, route operator and charging infrastructure – to enable them to transition from diesel-fueled public transportation to emission-free electric buses. Hitachi Energy considers the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an important initiative for realizing sustainable society and with this collaboration is playing a key role in accelerating the national transition towards a carbon-neutral energy system.
The three companies signed a memorandum of understanding in Islamabad in a state-level ceremony attended by government and ambassadors on February 25, 2021.
All-in-one solution from three e-mobility leaders
The three companies provide a formidable combination of e-bus solutions and public transportation expertise:
Daewoo is Pakistan’s largest public bus operator, with fleets, routes and depots across much of the country; Skywell is a leading global manufacturer of electric buses and new energy vehicles, with a complete offering of city e-buses to meet various urban requirements; and Hitachi Energy offers a uniquely comprehensive charging infrastructure solution through its Grid-eMotionTM portfolio of fleet and flash charging technologies and energy and fleet management.
Grid charging infrastructure is the key to keeping electric buses running for as long as possible each day, without having to take them off the road for recharging and deploy replacement buses and drivers, which increases operating costs significantly.
Grid-eMotion comprises two uniquely innovative solutions - Fleet and Flash - which meet these requirements. Grid-eMotion Fleet is a grid-code compliant and space-saving grid-to-plug charging solution that can be installed in existing depots and scaled flexibly as the fleet gets greener. Grid-eMotion Flash enables operators to flash-charge buses within seconds at passenger stops and fully recharge within minutes at the route terminus, without interrupting the bus schedule.
Also part of the Grid-eMotion portfolio is the e-meshTM EMS, used to manage and enhance the charging infrastructure, including data on bus charging and energy storage.
Grid-eMotion solutions are currently operating or under development in Australia, Canada, China, Europe, India and the Middle East.
The benefits of flash-charging with Grid-eMotion Flash.