Battery-driven trolleybuses – more electrical power without more wires

Landskrona in Sweden is becoming a greener city this autumn. A battery-driven bus is being introduced with ‘slide-in’ power. The bus will run under the city’s existing trolleybus wires, where it will charge its battery before being disconnected to continue running on batteries only before returning to its route under the wires to charge up again. The initiative is an EU project in which Lund University is the main partner.

“The slide-in technology makes it possible for us to expand the electrification of Landskrona’s local bus network without having to put up more wires. We retain both the advantages of electrified public transport and the flexibility to be able to adjust bus routes outside the city centre”, says Klas Sörensson, bus coordinator for the public transport company Skånetrafiken.

SlideIn is a project that aims to increase the use of electrically powered buses in cities. SlideIn is based on technology that allows the buses to connect to an overhead wire to charge their battery while driving. Charging the battery while the vehicle is running is efficient and allows the buses to drive on routes without wires. The project will run until December 2015 and the objective is to develop an attractive and cost effective solution to electrify a larger part of the public transport network.

“Attempts are being made around the world to find solutions that enable the use of electrical power to achieve more efficient public transport and a cleaner environment. The major advantage of the project in Landskrona is that trolleybuses are already in use and the buses can be charged while they are running, which is better for the batteries”, says Professor Mats Alküla from the Faculty of Engineering at Lund University, who is an expert on this type of technology.

Text: Kristina Lindgärde

Published: 2013