Francesco Starace, Ceo and General Manager of Enel writes: “While we are waiting for to become possible in Italy too, what appens in many other parts of the planet, Enel Group takes care to the development of public electric mobility in the big cities of the world . After Chile, Colombia and Brazil, where we are already present, now it’s the case in Australia. The theme is always the same “- explains Starace who adds -” urban public mobility is Electric !”
Energy technology company Enel X is bringing its electric bus charging infrastructure and services to Australia, in a bid to ride the wave of electrification coming in the nation’s public transport sector this decade.
The NSW government last year announced it wants its entire 8,000-strong bus fleet to be electric by 2030. Earlier this month, Victoria said all new buses would need to be electric by 2025 while the ACT plans to replace 90 diesel buses with e-buses over the next four years. Other states are also moving in the same direction.
This will require major infrastructure upgrades, both at depots – which are not currently big electricity users, but very soon will be – and along bus routes. It will also require investement in smart technology and a new approach to purchasing energy.
Enel X believes it has the holistic answer to this. The company specialises in wide range of smart energy services, from demand and supply management and EV charging, to microgrids and virtual power plants, and currently provides charging services to around 1400 e-buses, mostly in Chile and Colombia.
Jeff Renaud, Head of Asia and Oceania for the Company, says ambitious state government policy means the “time is now” to start marketing Enel X’s services in Australia. He says the company has both the technological solutions and the experience with energy markets to provide a “holistic” service to bus operators.
The service “can include necessary upgrades to depots, the charging stations themselves … the software platform that orchestrates the charging, and the energy supply – the actual electrons – that supply the depot,” he says.
