Hamburger Hochbahn electric bus depot in Alsterdorf to feature Siemens technology

Siemens Smart Infrastructure won a major contract from Hamburger Hochbahn, the largest local transport provider in the Hanseatic city. Siemens will equip two of the six carports at the Alsterdorf bus depot with a total of 96 charging points as well as medium and low-voltage technology. Operations are scheduled to start in summer 2021. With a total of 240 parking spaces, it is one of the largest and most modern bus depots for electric buses in Europe.

Alsterdorf bus depot in Hamburg, ready for e-buses

Hamburger Hochbahn has set itself the goal of converting its entire fleet of around 1,000 buses to emission-free and climate-friendly vehicles by the end of the decade. In parallel with the vehicle procurement, the conversion of the depot infrastructure is underway in order to be able to charge and maintain the new fleet.

The order includes 48 Sicharge UC 200 charging stations with CCS charging plugs per carport, medium and low-voltage technology, as well as a five-year service contract. Each charging station has a charging capacity of 150 kilowatts and supplies buses with electricity when they are not in service. All the charging technology is housed in a technology control center on the roof of each carport. The charging cable is routed along the roof directly to the charging stations. This allows the space at the depot to be used for bus parking in the best possible way.

The Alsterdorf bus depot covers 45,000 square meters and was opened in April 2019 by Hamburger Hochbahn. It is one of the most advanced bus depots in Europe as well as the first in Germany designed solely for emission-free buses. In the future, the buses will be supplied with green electricity at six carports. The Alsterdorf bus depot is the newest of a total of seven locations of Hochbahn. Since 2020, Hochbahn has been purchasing emission-free buses only.

Siemens, a single source partner for e-bus charging

“In equipping the bus depots with the necessary charging infrastructure, it is important for us to have a single-source partner who can deliver future-proof charging infrastructure along with all the necessary electrical components and services. We found such a partner in Siemens and are looking forward to executing this exciting project,” said Bastian Schmidt, Project Lead for Infrastructure Electromobility at Hamburger Hochbahn AG.

“In addition to a future-proof and easy-to-upgrade infrastructure, saving space when integrating charging technology is important especially in city infrastructure. In this project, rooftop installation was an appropriate solution,” said Jean-Christoph Heyne, Head of Future Grids at Siemens Smart Infrastructure. “I am pleased that in this case we were not only able to stand out with our flexible charging infrastructure, but also to meet the customer’s high demands with regard to sustainability. In our factory in Portugal, for example, the charging stations are manufactured exclusively with electricity from renewables. We therefore supply sustainably produced technology for more sustainable cities.”