SUSTAINABLE BUS 2-2023

OUTLOOKS
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Let’s talk about charging infrastructure.
Plug-in charging is king, with 1,300 stations
distributed in the three depots built
from scratch to house the zero emission
buses. There are also 89 300-kW stations
for roof-charging (twelve of which are in
the depots, four for each, and the rest distributed
between bus and metro stations).
The signature is that of ABB, the standards
are European, as underlined on several occasions
by the Mowasalat technicians.
3
Full electric
depots
Three depots built from scratch
We visited the Al Rayyan depot, separated
from the outskirts of the capital by about
twenty kilometers of desert landscape. A
seemingly incomprehensible choice. Mowasalat
underlined that these vehicles are
used on routes that start near the structure,
not far from which one of the stadiums
that hosted the World Cup is located. There
is room for 390 e-buses and 190 dualoutput
charging stations, each capable of
delivering 150 kW of power. It is not the
biggest depot: that one is in Lusail, and it
can accommodate 478 vehicles, powered
by 238 chargers. The picture
closes with Wakra, with
72 chargers. The charging
procedures are
carried out sequentially:
assuming we have
two buses connected to
the same stations, one of
the two is charged to 97
percent before moving on to
’filling the tank’ of the other. Only once
both vehicles are brought up to 97 percent,
the last 3 percent is added. A choice due to
the need to quickly free the buses in order
to allow them to move on to other activity
steps (washing or in service).
As mentioned above, Mowasalat bus fleet
consists of approximately 3,050 buses. The
900 e-buses make up around 30 percent
of the state-owned public transport company’s
fleet. A 5 MW solar power generation
has been installed in the Lusail depot.
In Al Rayyan, on the other hand, there is
no trace of ‘alternative’ energy production:
the vehicles are charged with electricity
from the grid, thus relying on the Qatari
energy mix (almost entirely dependent on
fossil fuels, mainly gas). A sore point. By
2030, Qatar has set a goal of obtaining 20
percent of its energy from photovoltaic, in
addition to meeting other ambitious sustainability
goals included in the Qatar Vision
2030 strategy. In early 2002, the Qatari government
commissioned a solar park capa-
909
E-bus in
operation
ble of supplying 800 MW of electricity.
The lion’s share of the new e-bus fleet is
taken by the low-entry city bus model Yutong
E11, delivered in 673 units.
Yutong’s place in Doha
The E11’s layout is substantially identical
to that of the E12s delivered in around ninety
units to Bergen, Norway. Battery capacity?
350 kWh. The configuration adopted
in Doha meets European standards,
except a series of expedients related to the
Middle Eastern climatic context.
First of all, the vehicles are equipped with
The tender envisaged,
among the specifications,
a useful life of 8 years, with
the requirement that after
five years the battery performance
has not dropped below
80 percent compared to
the original data and not below
70 after the fateful eight
years. A strong involvement
of the OEM in the maintenance
is included.
a motor protection system against sediments,
which guarantees the vehicle operations
even in the event of sandstorms.
There is also an enhanced air conditioning
system, capable of maintaining, according
to the manufacturer, 22 degrees
Celsius inside the passenger
compartment even when
1,300
Plug-in
chargers
the temperature outside reaches 50 degrees.
There is space on board for up to 72
people, 32 of whom are seated.
Not only city buses...
In addition to the E11, 60 electric minibuses
and midibuses (E7 and E9) and 60
electric Class III e-buses are also in ope-
The 900 e-buses make up
around 30 percent of the
state-owned public transport
company’s fleet. A 5
MW solar power generation
has been installed in the
Lusail depot. In Al Rayyan,
on the other hand, there
is no trace of ‘alternative’
energy production: the
vehicles are charged with
electricity from the grid,
thus relying on the Qatari
energy mix (almost entirely
dependent on fossil fuels,
mainly gas). A sore point.
By 2030, Qatar has set a
goal of obtaining 20 percent
of its energy from the sun.
Qatari government commissioned
a solar park with
capacity of 800 MW.
ration. The former are used in residential
areas for the first and last mile towards underground
and bus stations, the latter, also
sold in Europe under the name of TCe12,
were used for transferring fans to the stadium
and were intended, after the World
Cup, to intercity routes. The 7-metre boasts
a battery capacity of 163 kWh for 38
passengers that can be accommodated on
board (10 seated), while the 9-metre has
211 kWh available for a capacity of 52
passengers (22 seated). The coaches have
an energy storage capacity of 422 kWh
and 51 seats.
The tender envisaged, among the specifications,
a useful life of eight years, with the
requirement that after five years the battery
performance has not dropped below 80
percent compared to the original data and
not below 70 after the fateful eight years.
Again as part of the tender requirements,
a strong involvement of the manufacturer
in the management and maintenance of the
vehicles is included: the processes are carried
out in the Mowasalat plants with the
help of Yutong operators, over a hundred
were present in the country for the period
embraced by the World Cup.
About forty of these are destined to remain
in the area even after the sporting event
has ended (during which it
was possible to see teams
of Chinese technicians on
duty at the bus stops so
as to be able to intervene
in case of need).
What is the estimate of
the cost per kilometer,
in a country where diesel
costs 50 euro cents per liter?
0,03 €
Price for kWh
in Qatar
Well, the 3 euro cents per kilowatt hour of
electricity give a clear verdict: assuming a
(virtuous) consumption of 1 kWh per kilometer
for the e-buses and three with one liter
for a ICE city bus, the price of one kilometer
of electricity turns out to be a fifth of
a fossil kilometer. The fact that the electric
kilometer, in turn, has fossil origins is another
matter. Elementary, my dear Watson.
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