Barcelona now has its second high capacity, 100% electric urban bus line, the V15 (Barcelona-Avenida Tibidabo), which allows it to continue making progress in electromobility.
To make this possible, Endesa X - Dominion has installed three ultra-fast charging stations by pantograph, while Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) continues to add electric vehicles to its fleet: in 2024 the public transport operator in Catalonia will have 232 electric buses.
The temporary union of companies (UTE) Endesa X - Dominion has installed the necessary infrastructure so that vehicles can charge their batteries during service up to the optimum level of 90%, taking advantage of the regulation time at the stop at the end of the journey (which is called the opportunity charge), which is usually 5 minutes. Specifically, the V15 has been equipped with three ultra-fast chargers that have been placed at the ends of each terminal: two with a power of 500 kW on Paseo de Joan de Borbó, in front of the Vela hotel, and another with 250 kW located in Josep Garí street with Tibidabo avenue. In addition, the same companies will be in charge of carrying out the integral maintenance of the infrastructure, as they already do with the H16 chargers, which are of the same type and were pioneers in Spain and Europe. The chargers are financed with European aid from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF Transport).
Juan Garrigosa, director of Public Administrations at Endesa X, points out that:
At Endesa X we believe that electric public transport plays a key role in the transformation towards more sustainable cities. We are happy to continue accompanying TMB on this path, which makes it possible to improve air quality in Barcelona and reduce noise pollution, among other things.
The president of TMB, Laia Bonet, explained that with the electrification of the V15 line "we are taking a further step towards totally sustainable mobility as an operator committed to the fight against the climate emergency, committing to a fleet of zero-emission buses, and the Electrification is one of the major axes for renovating and environmentally updating Barcelona's urban buses", one of the main lines of TMB's 2025 Strategic Plan. In this sense, Bonet has reaffirmed "TMB's commitment to sustainable mobility", recalling that "we recently presented the new L3 and L1 trains, which are more sustainable, and we are constantly renewing the bus fleet by incorporating vehicles zero emissions".
Specifically, TMB has launched 16 100% electric articulated vehicles to serve the V15 line.
How are electric buses charged?
Ultra-fast charging by pantograph is carried out using two elements: the charger, a pillar approximately five meters high, similar to a lamppost, which is installed at the start and end of the line to take advantage of the stop times of the bus so as not to interfere with the schedule of the route, and, on the other hand, the pantograph, a kind of retractable mechanical arm located on the roof of the bus that unfolds and connects to the charger to start charging.
At night, with the buses already parked in the garages, the vehicles recover 100% of their batteries in about two or three hours to be at full capacity at the beginning of the day the following day. For this reason, the network of chargers in the depots is also being strengthened, where Endesa X - Dominion is currently working on the installation of 37 night-time charging chargers in the Triangle depot, which already has 30 more in service, after after winning the public tender. In the Horta depot there are already four chargers working and before the summer there will be 24 more units.
Bet on electric mobility
TMB, Endesa X and Dominion thus reinforce their relationship and their commitment to making Barcelona a more sustainable city, with a clear commitment to electric traction and green energy to mitigate climate change. The first chargers were already installed by Endesa in 2016 on the H16 bus line, and were pioneers in Catalonia, Spain and Europe. Endesa X is also one of the collaborating companies in the commemoration of the Bus Network Centenary and cooperates closely with public administrations, which it supports to help them meet their decarbonisation, efficiency and sustainability objectives, developing projects and services for cities electrified, digitized and circular as is the promotion of electric public transport.
As an operator committed to the fight against the climate emergency and sustainable development, TMB has set out to achieve emissions neutrality in its transport networks by 2030. Among the next steps is 100% electrification of the bus line H12.
Currently, TMB's fleet consists of 30 100% electric buses, all articulated and with rapid charging by pantograph, which serve the fully electric line H16 since summer 2021, and occasionally also the H6, 7 or 33. To these 30 buses and for the same lines, 78 more fully electric vehicles (49 standards and 29 articulated) are arriving. In addition, 88 electric buses (68 standard and 20 articulated) will be acquired in 2023, arriving between the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024. In addition, 36 more electric buses (27 articulated and 9 standard) are expected to arrive during 2024. In total, 232 electric vehicles.
