City: Leipzig is the largest city in Saxony with the population of around 500.000 inhabitants. The city used to be called “little Paris” thanks to its cultural vibrancy and being a respected centre of learning. Apart from being a trade centre, Leipzig is also a home to various universities and research institutions.
Public transport in Leipzig: The public transport includes buses and trams. The network of the latter is the 2nd longest in Germany amounting to 148.3 km.
In the project: The ELIPTIC activities in Leipzig are led by LVB with support of FRAUNHOFER.
ELIPTIC use cases in Leipzig:
Pillar A - Opportunity (re)charging of e-buses by using tram infrastructure
The work in this Use Case is based on the experience from two national projects: Batterfly (operating an electric battery bus on an inner city bus line in the city of Leipzig using tram infrastructure) and Skorpion (investigating the potentials of bus lines with articulated buses for the operation of trolley-hybrid-buses). LVB analyses possibilities to operate electric buses (12 m buses) in the city of Leipzig under special consideration of the already existing tram infrastructure. Using energy balancing calculations (EBC), the energy demand of e-buses is determined and then the possibilities for recharging the buses at the bus depot and via opportunity charging.
Pillar C - Use of tram network sub-station for (re)charging e-vehicles
Since tram/(light)rail energy networks are dimensioned for full energy availability and short-term capacity overloads, capacity reserves could (theoretically) be used for charging other e-vehicles. LVB analyses additional loading effects for charging e-cars and e-bikes at a modified tram sub-station in order to determine the impact such additional loading may have on the overall tram operation in Leipzig. Secondly, the Use Case Team studies legal barriers regarding multi-purpose use of the existing tram infrastructure, i.e. selling energy from the tram network to third parties.