“Successful planning approaches into software solutions for end users”

This is the aim of the recently launched joint project Strategie E under the leadership of ebusplan.

The Strategie E project (running from October 2018 to September 2021) is developing planning software for electric buses. As one of nine projects, the project successfully applied for funding as part of the second call for proposals for the MobilityLogistics.NRW lead market competition. The planning software to be developed will enable public transport companies in North Rhine-Westphalia to independently and systematically plan the conversion to electric buses.

In addition, this project is intended to expand the competence of the transport companies using the system to compare different electric bus concepts with each other using open technology. To this end, the operational effects of the various electric bus concepts for the respective transport company will be made transparent and quantified. This is the only way to identify a cost-efficient and reliable overall system that is optimally adapted to local conditions.

The software development process analyses and incorporates existing planning processes of the transport companies. The pilot users, Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe (KVB), Stadtwerke Oberhausen (STOAG) and WestVerkehr (west), ensure that the application of the software meets the needs of the users. All three transport companies are planning to procure electric buses or already have vehicles in regular service. In addition to the transport companies as pilot users, the project consortium consists of the planning offices ebusplan and Rupprecht Consult. The Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA) of RWTH Aachen University is an “associated partner” of the project consortium.

A further focus of the project is to combine the existing competences and procedures in the planning of electric buses with best practice experiences from EU projects and finally to share the acquired knowledge with transport companies from NRW. To this end, Strategie E has already set up a user forum to organise workshops on planning topics. The first meetings took place in summer 2019.