Implementation of the fast charging concept for electric local public transport: The case-study of a minibus

This paper shows an effective implementation of the fast charging concept in the electric local public transport context. An electric minibus powered with a lead-acid battery is considered as a case-study. Its traction battery is redesigned using 12 V standard lithium-iron-phosphate modules to benefit from the higher performance of the lithium battery technology compared to the lead-acid one. The minibus can achieve a continuous operation characterised by 20 min of traveling alternated with 10 min of standstill for fast recharging of the battery. Experiments performed on a single module of the battery show that the load profile is sustained without appreciable issues both in temperature and life degradation of the lithium cells.