ABB teams up with Davos to set up fast charging infrastructure

For this year’s annual World Economic Forum (January 23–26, 2018), the city of Davos and ABB have teamed up in a long-term partnership to provide e-infrastructure for public and private transportation.

Davos residents and WEF guests can experience the pioneering TOSA bus, which has developed by ABB in Switzerland. It is already in use in Geneva and will soon be implemented in the French city of Nantes. It can recharge its battery in just 20 seconds as passengers board and disembark. In Davos, it will operate on the busy Line 1, running from the tourist center to the hospital. This is the first time TOSA technology is being used in an Alpine region. The idea is to run the system under extreme winter weather conditions; ABB and its project partners expect to gain valuable insights from this pilot project.

In addition, electric cars transporting attendees around Davos will be able to recharge their batteries at eight newly installed ABB fast-charging stations.

Collectively, the TOSA e-bus and the charging stations provide a powerful, real-world demonstration of state-of-the-art sustainable transportation technologies, which are seeing increased deployment throughout the world as e-mobility becomes the driving force for bringing energy efficiency with low environmental impact to cars, buses, trains, ships and cable cars.

“The shift to electric vehicles is no longer a question of if, but rather of when and how quickly,” said ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer. “EVs are becoming increasingly attractive to motorists. As well as being ecologically responsible, they're becoming less expensive to buy and maintain.”

ABB is the technology leader in the fast-charging products and systems that are transforming transportation in globally sustainable ways. Sustainable transportation is playing a crucial role in the fight against climate change, as e-mobility begins to replace fossil-fuel-powered vehicles spewing greenhouse gases contributing to global warming.

Fast-charging at the World Economic Forum meeting

For e-cars, ABB claims to be the global leader in fast charging, with more than 6,000 stations installed in more than 50 countries. At Davos, world leaders will get to see the eight recently installed ABB Terra 53 charging stations in action. The ABB Terra 53 is the best-selling 50 kW DC charging station in Europe and North America, supporting the CCS, CHAdeMO and simultaneous 43 kW AC charging standards.

For public transport, the all-electric TOSA e-bus at Davos is at the cutting edge of sustainable transportation innovation. Indeed, TOSA received the prestigious Watt d’Or 2018 in the energy efficient mobility category from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. The TOSA technology was jointly developed in Switzerland by ABB in partnership with Transport Publics Genevois (tpg), the Office de Promotion of Industries et des Technologies (OPI), the Services Industriels de Genève (SIG), and bus manufacturer Carrosserie HESS.

The same TOSA technology in use at Davos has been powering buses on Geneva's bus line 23 airport route. They use overhead contacts that connect at selected stops along their routes to replenish their batteries in as little as 20 seconds, recharging as passengers board and exit. The environmentally friendly system in Geneva could ultimately cut carbon dioxide emissions by 1,000 tons annually.

In the racing world, through its recently announced partnership with the Formula E electric-car racing organisation, ABB will help to refine the design and functionality of electric vehicles and infrastructure as well as associated digital platforms.