As of: February 3, 2024, 6:14 a.m
By: Kilian Bäuml
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The winter cold in Norway poses challenges for e-buses.
Adjusting the timetables and carrying out repairs should help.
Oslo – In recent weeks, public transport in Oslo appears to have faced significant difficulties.
At least this is what can be concluded from various reports.
While e-vehicles are no longer subsidized in Germany, e-buses are mainly used in the Norwegian capital.
Many of them currently have a significantly shorter range; the winter temperatures could be the reason for this.
But how much does the cold actually affect the performance of the e-buses?
And are they even suitable for a cold country like Norway?
Many e-buses in Oslo currently have a shorter range, which poses a challenge to public transport operations.
(Symbolic image) © Annika Byrde/Imago
Electric buses in the cold: Norway's fight against breakdowns and chaos on the roads
To clarify these questions,
euronews.com
conducted a fact check and contacted Ruter, the company that operates the e-buses, directly.
In a statement, Ruter clarified the actual extent of the problems.
The company called the reports "an extreme exaggeration, we canceled on average between 50 and 100 departures out of more than 4,000 daily departures for a few days." However, Ruter acknowledged that the weather did have an impact.
Ruter explained: “There were issues with the buses reducing their range in cold weather, which we solved by changing the charging shifts.
And also by repairing the infrastructure.” However, the e-buses are now back in normal operation.
Why the cold causes problems for electric vehicles
Although the electric car industry is currently in a difficult situation, many still see electric cars as the future.
Anyone who owns an electric car is probably already familiar with the problem with the cold.
In winter temperatures, the vehicle uses significantly more energy.
In addition to the interior, the battery installed in the vehicle floor also needs to be heated intensively.
This works best at temperatures between 20 and 40 degrees.
A lot of energy is required to bring the battery to the desired temperature at the start of a journey, which reduces the range.
Source: ADAC
Problems with electric buses in the cold: How Oslo deals with winter challenges
Cathrine Myhren-Haugen, press spokeswoman for Ruter, told the Norwegian website
elbil.no
that the reduced range of the buses could be compensated for: “In cold weather, the range of the buses is reduced, but bus operators are now making up for this by adjusting the timetables for the buses Compensate for trips and fees.
The first hard cold snaps are giving operators new insight into how much these plans need to be adjusted.” She also emphasized that defective chargers were responsible for a large proportion of the outages.
However, these have now been upgraded and are working again.
Anna Stephanopoulous, a professor of mechanical engineering and battery expert at the University of Michigan, explained to
euronews.de
how transport companies can tackle the problem of cold in electric drives.
“This means that the buses must remain plugged in as early as possible, perhaps even a few hours before departure, to recharge and, if possible, remain plugged in overnight when it is cold to ensure thermal management of the battery is active and the battery temperature is kept above freezing in regions.” This is the only way the battery can start and the vehicle can be operated with this maximum range.
Winter test for e-buses: “You just have to plan the tours differently in winter”
Mukhtar Ahmad, a bus driver in Oslo, explained to
Spiegel
in a similar way: “You just have to plan tours differently in winter and build more charging stations.
Then it works.” According to these reports, Ruter has now taken an additional measure to increase the range of the buses: the interior temperature has been reduced from 18 to 13 degrees.
However, Ahmad is not happy about this change.
The bus drivers insist on the previous 18 degrees.
“Technology has to adapt to us and not the other way around,” he says.
By the way: subways and trains were also affected by the low temperatures.
Weather-related failures are not just a problem in Norway and not just for e-buses.
In Germany, too, numerous public transport had to be stopped in December 2023 due to snow chaos.
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