Assured, the end of the European project for greener cities thanks to e-buses

The European project Assured has made e-buses a reality over the past five years. Also to make our cities greener, healthier and more livable. Coordinated by VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Assured was launched in 2017 with a consortium of 38 partners that included stakeholders from the entire transport and energy supply sector.

The project brought together the most relevant stakeholders along the entire value chain, bringing together different technologies and interests, developing and testing innovative solutions to support the standardization and interoperability of electric vehicle charging.

Uitp held a final conference (Brussels, March 21, 2022) to conclude this important EU initiative. With a strong focus on electric buses, Assured delivered key innovations that enable optimized fleet operations, and the project investigated smart charging tools and energy storage systems.

The results of the Assured green project

«Assured was an example of how cooperation between end users, industry, technology companies and academia can deliver key results that help move the industry forward and really make a difference», said Aida Abdulah, Senior Project Manager Bus Unit, Uitp.

One of the key deliverables of the project is The assured 1.0 Interoperability Reference, a document that enables interoperability and compliance testing by operators, authorities and manufacturers. The first document was launched in 2019, and an update, L’assured Interoperability Reference 1.1, was released this month following the results of project demos held across Europe.

Assured solutions for buses, trucks and vans were first tested in test-tracks, under controlled conditions. Then, they were tested in real-world operations in five European cities – Barcelona, Gothenburg, Osnabrück, Eindhoven and Jaworzno.

“Assured has been a European flagship project on electric mobility that contributes to both the competitiveness of European industry and the reduction of emissions in cities across Europe. It has brought innovative solutions for interoperability and standardization of urban commercial vehicle charging systems,” said Patrick Mercier-Handisyde, DG Research and Innovation, European Commission.

The Assured Clean Bus Report

Created through the valuable collaboration with fellow EU-initiatives JIVE and the Clean Bus Europe Platform, the ASSURED Clean Bus Report is a major milestone delivered by the project. This new publication provides an updated overview of the European market for clean buses and compares clean vehicle figures of 2017 and 2021. The report highlights the major progress our sector has made in terms of the electrification of public transport and the commitment to a more sustainable world.