90 practitioners in the field of innovative electric public transport gathered in London to discuss the experiences made within the ELIPTIC project
Over 50 representatives from the public transport operators, technical support partners as well as research institutions involved in eLIPTIC gathered in London from November 7-9, to discuss the experiences they have made so far regarding the three thematic pillars:
I Safe integration of eBuses into existing electric PT infrastructureII Upgrading and/or regenerating electric public transport systems (flywheel, reversible substations)III Multi-purpose use of electric public transport infrastructure: safe (re)charging of non-public transport vehicles (pedelecs, electric cars/ taxis, utility trucks) During the eLIPTIC User Forum on November 9, another 40 representatives from countries across Europe joined the eLIPTIC consortium partners. The User Forum creates an opportunity for a) eLIPTIC partners to learn from the experience of other cities that are working towards the electrification of public transport and b) for the User Forum members to profit from the research and implementation experiences made within the project. Whereas the last user Forum in Gdynia concentrated on cooperation requirements and barriers the cities face in their attempt to electrify their public transport systems, this time the focus was on developing business cases. The group discussed in a business case workshop what needs to be included in a business case in the three eLIPTIC pillars and what data and cost parameters are needed to develop these. As part of the User Forum, participants also had the chance to visit
Transport for London's (Tfl) Waterloo Bus Garage which is among Europe's biggest electric bus garages and currently hosts 40 charging stations for 43 eBuses. On the final day of the eLIPTIC meeting series in London (November 10), the eLIPTIC partner Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership organised the UK eBus summit which proved valuable to disseminate the actions and results of the eLIPTIC project to the wider stakeholder community in the UK. About 50 stakeholders from cities such as London, Nottingham, York and Milton Keynes participated in the event to talk about the situation of electric buses in the UK and discuss challenges and opportunities in the integration of eBuses in cities in the UK. eLIPTIC is a European innovation and research project to test innovative approaches to the electrification of public transport in 20 so called “use cases” across 11 European cities. Rupprecht Consult, together with the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, is responsible for the coordination of the eLIPTIC project, for the organisation and moderation of the User Forum and the Process Evaluation.
