Keynote 2: TOSA concept: A full electric large capacity urban bus system

15 seconds is the time needed at bus stops to disembark and embark passengers. That´s also the time we need to put some energy into the full electric TOSA large capacity bus. Like a trolleybus, the TOSA bus collects the required energy during its journey, but without overhead lines. Like an overnight charging battery bus, TOSA has autonomy to ensure the service, but with a small and long-life battery - no oversizing and limited recycling. At first glance, it looks like a paradox, but by selecting the appropriate technology and ensuring management of energy within the most optimal operating range means that a small battery has a much longer life time than the one used in an overnight charging battery bus. The technical architecture of this opportunity-charging principle, that we call Flash charging, will be presented along with its operational, economical and energy efficiency requirements. To achieve the energy transfer in such a short time, this bus has a laser controlled moving arm that connects to an overhead receptacle at some bus stops, e.g. every forth in Line 23. The docking procedure is fast, achieved in less than a second. The first TOSA articulated bus has been running in Geneva since May 2013. Concept and experience from the field will be shared, as well as the configuration for deployment on the full line 23 in Geneva by 2017.