
Case Study: Optimizing Charging Operations for a Municipality's EV Buses Using Powea's Software
19 Eki 2024
2 dakikalık okuma
This case study showcases how Powea's smart charging management software was utilized to optimize the charging operations for a municipality’s public transportation fleet. The municipality operated 5,000 electric buses, which ran between 05:00 AM and 12:00 AM daily, leaving only a 5-hour window for overnight charging.
Before diving into a detailed analysis of the municipality bus case study, let’s first take a look at how Powea’s system operates to ensure efficient and optimized charging management.

Powea’s system provides a comprehensive solution for managing electric vehicle (EV) fleet charging operations efficiently. Here's how it works:
Charging Planning: The system helps fleet operators plan and schedule charging sessions for their vehicles, ensuring optimal use of resources and minimal downtime.
Energy Management: It dynamically manages energy consumption, ensuring that charging is done during off-peak hours or when renewable energy is abundant, reducing both costs and carbon emissions.
Active Operation Tracking: Powea’s platform actively monitors charging operations in real time, allowing for quick adjustments and ensuring that all vehicles are ready for operation.
Consumption Reports: The system provides detailed reports on energy consumption, allowing fleet managers to analyze patterns and identify cost-saving opportunities.
Charging Operation Tracking: Powea also tracks the performance and uptime of charging stations, maximizing efficiency and minimizing potential downtime.
Fleet operators can interact with Powea’s system via APIs, allowing seamless integration with existing or Powea’s own CMS (Content Management System). The system uses Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) to communicate with charging stations.
Additionally, the system incorporates external data such as IoT device information, grid CO2 emissions, operational schedules, energy prices, and data from other applications to ensure a smooth and optimized charging process.
Now that we’ve covered how Powea’s system functions, let’s shift our focus to the key challenges faced by the municipality in managing its electric bus fleet and how Powea's software effectively addressed these issues.
Key Challenges:
Limited charging time: Only 5 hours available at night to charge the buses.
High energy consumption: Each bus required a 140 kWh charge.
Tight operational schedule: The buses needed to be fully charged and ready for the next day’s operations.
Energy costs: The electricity price was set at 0.17 euro cents per kWh.
Powea's Solutions:
Powea’s software helped the municipality address these challenges by:
Optimizing Charging Efficiency: The software scheduled the charging operations to maximize charger uptime and minimize total charging time. It utilized 120 kW chargers to ensure all buses were charged within the 5-hour window.
Reducing Energy Costs: The software integrated dynamic energy pricing, allowing the municipality to charge buses during off-peak hours, further lowering energy expenses.
Lowering CO2 Emissions: Through smart energy management, Powea’s software minimized the carbon footprint of the fleet’s charging operations.
Impact:

Energy Cost Savings: The optimized charging operations resulted in a 29.5% annual cost reduction, saving approximately €2.8 million per year.
CO2 Emissions Reduction: The municipality achieved a 24% annual reduction in CO2 emissions, contributing to a more sustainable operation.
Grid Load Management: Powea’s load-balancing algorithm reduced the grid load by 40%, enabling the use of existing infrastructure without costly upgrades.
Powea’s software demonstrated its capability to not only improve operational efficiency but also support sustainable energy use and reduce overall costs for large-scale EV fleet operations.