ABB is underlining its leading role in sustainable global transport solutions with a new project together with Volvo Buses, this time for Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore: ABB will provide its state-of-the-art Heavy Vehicle Chargers (HVC) 300P for the forthcoming project to deliver two autonomous driving electric buses for the island by the beginning of 2019.

The HVC 300P fast charging system delivers 300 kW DC power and will recharge a battery in three to six minutes. It is based on OppCharge, an open interface for DC electric bus charging, which is now being used in Singapore and Asia Pacific. Using a pantograph mounted on the infrastructure for end-point charging, it allows buses to be charged at the end of the line, without impacting on the normal operation of the route.

The system will charge two all-electric 12-meter Volvo 7900 Electric buses and Volvo and NTU will build the autonomous driving solution on Volvo's platform. This is Volvo's first autonomous application in public transportation, following success in autonomous technology in mining, quarry and refuse collection operations.

As Håkan Agnevall, President of Volvo Buses, explained: "We are seeing fast growing interest in both autonomous and electric vehicles in cities all over the world. Together with NTU, one of the world's leading universities of technology, ABB and SMRT - Singapore's premier multi-modal land transport provider - we now have the possibility to test various solutions under realistic conditions in a major city that has high ambitions for its public transport."

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