As the electrification of the Australian bus and coach industry continues to accelerate, a range of parts suppliers and engineering technology companies have proven to be more than two steps ahead.
With innovation as a driving force behind the company, German parts manufacturer E-T-A ElectroTechnical Applications has long been ready for the major switch, already offering suitable solutions for both diesel and electric buses across the world.
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Known for its ground-breaking work in circuit breakers, electric circuit protectors, intelligent power distribution systems and more, the company has more than six decades worth of expertise up its sleeve. Now, this rich depth of knowledge and innovative products is helping power the latest technology in Australia’s bus and coach industry.
“New technologies and future oriented systems are crucial for the design of on-board electrical systems,” E-T-A Australia managing director Andrew Skaltsounis told ABC.
“The growing number of electrical vehicle components and the need for data transmission between individual devices quickly leads to heavy cable harnesses and higher wiring complexity.
“That’s why at E-T-A, we have already began looking at solutions.”
Its newest offerings, including its SCS Smart Controls Systems, are intelligent products that work seamlessly with its CAN solutions to control a bus’ power distribution.
The CAN Bus was originally developed to reduce extensive wiring in vehicles in the 1980s. While reduced wiring was always the aim, as the focus on zero-emission vehicles increases, finding new ways of ensuring the systems can handle the added voltage and weight limits has become imperative. This need to match the evolution of bus technology has seen E-T-A’s power distribution systems come to the fore.
E-T-A offers a suitable CAN solution with numerous intelligent products that support the CAN 2.0 standard and are compatible with J1939 and CANopen.
The CAN solution has proven to be the ideal technology in the bus and coach industry to facilitate fast and simple data transmission. Also, when paired with the SCS Smart Control Systems, the CAN solution can supply data based on current on-channels, cause of error, active channels, voltage and more.
E-T-A is also continually working with local operators to integrate other data they need into its systems.
“SCS Smart Controls Systems is a new product category at E-T-A and pretty new technology in general,” Skaltsounis says.
“It’s a fully electronic power distribution base which is combined with CAN-connection, current and voltage measurement as well as configurability and programmability.
“This new system opens totally new possibilities compared to conventional power distribution, which typically involves lots of cabling and practically no system transparency and flexibility.”
The current SCS products are working at 12V/24V/48V. While they are suitable for diesel buses, Skaltsounis says on battery electric buses are where they truly shine.
As zero-emission buses continue to grow in demand both around the world and in Australia, the demand for infrastructure solutions to power these buses have increased. Nowadays, products and solutions such as E-T-A’s can improve availability, system transparency, power management, cabling, efficiency, flexibility and more on a bus, matching the rapid pace of technology development in the power source space.
“The SCS200 is a plug and play device which needs an ECU as a Master, while the SCS1000/3000 is even more flexible due to its programmability features,” Skaltsounis says.
“Most clients love the increased flexibility that comes with this new technology. Due to reset ability via CAN, you can place the service-free devices anywhere in the vehicle without the need to access them for replacing fuses or relays.
“They are also impressed with how lightweight the system is, with very little cables or relays needed to power. Cables are heavy, relays are heavy and you need way more components to build the same functionality as provided by our SCS.”
Another selling point for customers is the lack of updates needed. Configuration in SCS1000/3000, as well as parametrisation in the SCS200, can be flexibly adapted to new requirements, allowing for easy upgrades on the vehicle.
“The combination of high-power outputs, PWM, H-Bridges, multiple inputs and programmability features is something that few competitors can offer,” Skaltsounis says.
“In combination with our product support by sales and application engineers, we can help clients get the most out of our systems.
“That really sets us apart from competitors, which often have weaknesses either on the HW/SW side or on the support side of the business.”