An electric bus from Tatarstan became a victim of political intrigue? experts are confident that the target was not Kamaz, but Sobyanin. Electric buses will travel along the capital's streets next year Electric bus accident

An electric bus from Tatarstan became a victim of political intrigue? experts are confident that the target was not Kamaz, but Sobyanin. Electric buses will travel along the capital's streets next year Electric bus accident
24.11.2019

The ceremonial launch of Kama electric buses on Moscow transport routes on September 1 turned into a scandal. Blogger and public figure Maxim Katz reported on social networks that the electric buses did not pass the test on the first flight.

“This is not a vehicle, but an expensive toy”

“The main failure of the day. At the VDNKh metro station, Sobyanin and a group of children boarded one working electric bus, and everyone drove off towards Altufyevo. However, after passing three stops, the electric bus dropped everyone off, including the mayor, and went to the park,” the social activist wrote on September 1.

According to him, all other attempts to bring electric buses to the line also failed. This information was circulated by many media outlets, which called the beginning of the introduction of Kama electric buses into the capital’s transport scheme a collapse.

However, according to our experts, categorical assessment of the performance of new transport is inappropriate.

Who is Maxim Kats? A 33-year-old social activist with a rich political biography.


Maxim Katz, a native of Moscow, returned to the Russian capital at the age of 17 from Israel, where his family emigrated, in 2001. Actively studied problems of urbanism and city planning. In 2012, he was elected as a deputy of the municipal assembly of the capital's Shchukino district from the Yabloko party. Maxim Katz led the election headquarters of Ilya Varlamov in the mayoral elections of Omsk in 2012, and became deputy head of the election headquarters of Alexei Navalny in the mayoral elections in 2013. However, in 2016, their political paths finally diverged, and they clearly did not part as friends. At the moment, together with Ilya Varlamov, he is listed as the founder of the City Projects Foundation and actively advocates for the preservation of trolleybuses in Moscow.

“If the mayor’s office introduced electric buses instead of smelly diesel buses, it would be a super positive and useful event that everyone would support. The electric bus itself is very comfortable inside, the interior is made with high quality. If these go instead of buses, it will be just great. It was enough to just buy the right model, which charges from wires while moving,” says the social activist.

Katz believes that electric buses and trolleybuses are almost “brothers,” but the former differ from the latter in that the wrong methods are used to charge them. According to the blogger, charging in parks and at bus stops is the “weak link” of the project to introduce green transport. Electric buses should be charged on the go, from wires, that is, practically become trolleybuses.

“The peculiarity of Moscow is that we have preserved the world’s largest network for recharging electric buses on the go. The mayor’s office wants to destroy this network, but if they really thought about how to develop electric transport, they would simply purchase electric buses with on-the-go charging,” writes Katz.

According to him, the first days of operation of Kama electric buses fully confirmed his fears. “Such buses are not transport at all, they are just expensive toys,” the social activist wrote on social networks.

Meanwhile, techies called Maxim Katz’s reasoning superficial, and called him an amateur.

Moscow intends to buy 300 electric buses annually

Let us recall that in May of this year, KAMAZ PJSC became one of the winners of the auctions for the supply of electric buses to the capital of Russia. As a result, contracts were concluded with KAMAZ PJSC and GAZ Group for the supply of one hundred electric buses and 31 ultra-fast charging stations to each of them. In 2019–2020, Moscow authorities intend to buy 300 electric buses annually. And in 2021, the golden-headed company is going to exclude diesel buses from procurement plans and switch exclusively to the purchase of electric buses.


According to the creators of the Kama electric bus, the Moscow version was designed specifically for the order of the capital’s administration. The electric bus is positioned as an environmentally friendly, highly mobile and safe form of urban transport.

Note that the draft technical specifications provided for the creation of low-floor vehicles that could accommodate at least 85 passengers. The innovative vehicle was supposed to be equipped with the most modern equipment, including climate control systems, video surveillance and satellite navigation, USB connectors for charging mobile devices, and access to Wi-Fi. Traveling in an electric bus should be comfortable for passengers of all categories, including those with limited mobility.

All these “wants” were embodied in the new KAMAZ product. Special attention was paid to the “Fast charging” function during its creation.

According to the designers, the KAMAZ-6282 electric bus uses modern components of traction electrical equipment, including a portal axle with an electric drive and lithium-titanate batteries. They only require 6–12 minutes to recharge.

The electric bus is charged from ultra-fast charging stations using a pantograph; in addition, an on-board charger is used that allows the drive to be charged from a three-phase alternating current network of 380 volts (night charging). It is noteworthy that charging the electric bus is possible at temperatures ranging from +45 to –40 degrees Celsius. Thus, the electric bus can transport passengers all year round. The maximum speed is 75 kilometers per hour, the maximum range of the electric bus is 70 kilometers.

“The first flight went without a hitch”

Regarding the overblown scandal over a broken electric bus, KAMAZ PJSC issued an official denial. According to a representative of the auto giant, the Kama electric bus completed its first flight in Moscow without failures.

The official statement says: “The electric buses produced by KAMAZ PJSC that have entered the Moscow line are a new product that meets all the requirements of a modern metropolis. Like any innovative product, it requires new approaches - both in development and in operation.”

The document states that all events involving the electric bus scheduled for September 1 passed without failure and no other events were planned. “The KAMAZ electric bus completed its first flight along a predetermined route,” the press service of the enterprise specifically notes.


In addition, the statement states that the machine was developed in accordance with the customer’s requirements and the plant’s specialists are constantly in contact with the State Unitary Enterprise Mosgotrans, promptly responding to questions that inevitably arise when introducing fundamentally new equipment. At the same time, “a life-cycle contract was concluded with the operators, which provides for the maintenance of equipment by the company for 15 years.”

In conclusion, KAMAZ assures that in the future it intends to “fulfill all its obligations under the contract and promptly respond to all customer comments.”

“This is not a bus, but a spaceship on wheels!”

Tatar-inform news agency managed to obtain information from a source who is well acquainted with the situation surrounding Kama electric buses.

“Sobyanin and his entourage drove only three stops, because it was planned in advance,” our source claims. - Remember any high-ranking official who came to you for the opening of a particular transport line. He did not travel along the full route - from one final stop to the other, but, as required by protocol, he rode several stops, after which he went to the next meeting. It was the same here. Sobyanin assessed the work of the electric bus, after which the equipment returned to the park under its own power. And Maxim Katz saw this as a reason for a scandal and inflated it to universal proportions.”

“Now we are putting into operation completely new, untested equipment that has not been used in the city before. Now Kama electric buses are undergoing trial operation. Therefore, they make several walks, three or four around the city, and then return to the park where the diagnostic equipment is located. And readings are taken from them on a thousand parameters. This is, in fact, not a car, but a spacecraft on wheels. And now we are testing how these parameters work. Electric buses are on the line in different weather conditions, with different loads, and move on different road surfaces. How does all this affect the technical condition of the transport, which is what KAMAZ specialists are finding out, working out all the roughness that arises. And that's okay. Because any new technique at the initial stage requires additional attention.”


“This information blow was most likely directed not at KAMAZ, but at the main contender for the post of mayor of the capital,” he suggested.

Last weekend in Moscow, the ceremonial launch of the first electric buses took place, with which the city authorities intend to replace Moscow trolleybuses in the future. However, the first few attempts to send electric buses along the route of trolleybus N73, running from VDNKh to Altufyevo, turned out to be failures.

According to the information provided in his blog public figure Maxim Katz, who has repeatedly criticized the idea of ​​​​introducing electric buses that need to be charged at final stops and in the park, on September 1, 30 electric buses were supposed to go on the route at once, but everything immediately went wrong.

“At the VDNKh metro station, Sobyanin and a group of children boarded one working electric bus, everyone went towards Altufyevo. However, after passing three stops, the electric bus dropped everyone off, including the mayor, and went to the park,” wrote Katz.

During Saturday and Sunday, a total of six more attempts were made to launch two electric buses on the route, but none of them were successful: in all cases, the electric bus had to be removed from the route, and passengers were forced to wait for the usual trolleybus.

Let us remind you that contracts for the supply of the first 200 electric buses to Moscow were concluded with the KamAZ enterprises, the main shareholder of which is the Rostec holding, and LiAZ, part of Oleg Deripaska’s group of companies. The cost of each contract was 6.35 billion rubles, with a starting price of 6.38 billion. According to the lots drawn, the cost of one electric bus was about 33 million rubles. At the same time, large modern buses cost up to 10 million rubles, trams - about 15 million.

According to the contracts, electric buses with a charging system at final stops and in parks must be equipped with climate control, free Wi-Fi, USB connectors for charging mobile devices, and a low floor. The power reserve should be more than 40 km, the maximum speed should be 70 km/h.

“If the mayor’s office introduced electric buses instead of stinking diesel buses, it would be a super positive and useful event that would be supported by everyone. The inside of the electric bus itself is very comfortable, the interior is made with high quality, if these go instead of buses, it will be just great. It was enough just buy the right model - which is charged from wires in motion. And today it would be possible to launch a really working technology with great fanfare. Instead, it is symbolic that the presentation was against the backdrop of another toy, the previous mayor - it will be dismantled soon. – wrote Katz.

In the next three years, the capital's transport complex will purchase 300 electric buses annually. What advantages does this type of transport provide?

EXHAUSTS - ZERO!

This is the most important advantage of electric buses. They work according to the Zero Emission principle, which is now fashionable in Europe. Such transport is no more harmful to the environment than a home sewing machine, since it is also powered by an electric motor. And oil will not drip from it, because it is not in the engine.

And the electric bus drives almost silently, and at the same time the return on energy spent is much higher than that of a regular bus: after all, internal combustion engines (ICE) produce a lot of unnecessary heat into the atmosphere. Electric vehicles, on the other hand, do not heat the air even with the brakes, and the braking energy is converted into electric battery charge. It turns out that this technology is more advanced, although it is structurally simpler and more reliable than a regular bus. The main thing is that the batteries last and can be charged quickly. More on this below, but for now about cleanliness.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: A COURSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY

Already, the capital's surface public transport meets all modern economic standards. In the total mass of harmful emissions into the atmosphere, the share of passenger transport is only 3%, and the rest of the mass of trucks and cars is 97%. And even when switched to gas, the engine will still produce harmful emissions into the atmosphere. At the same time, the goal of the city authorities is to reduce exhaust gas emissions to almost zero.

From 2021, the city of Moscow will stop purchasing diesel vehicles; we will purchase only electric vehicles,” said Deputy Mayor of Moscow, Head of the Department of Transport and Road Transport Development Maxim Liksutov during a public hearing on the topic “Development of electric transport in Moscow” on October 30. - This decision has been made, the corresponding government decree has been issued, changes have already been made to our state program for the development of transport in Moscow.

This means that current buses will continue to operate until the end of their design life, and then will gradually be replaced by electric vehicles. And over time, there will be no passenger transport with an exhaust pipe left at all.

Skeptics will now begin to grumble that the batteries of electric buses need to be charged for hours, which means that such equipment will stand most of the time, connected to an outlet. And they will be completely wrong, because existing technologies make it possible to recharge batteries at end stations from ultra-fast high-voltage devices in just a few minutes - literally while drivers are changing shifts. This, by the way, is one of the main points of the technical specifications that Mosgortrans prescribed for potential manufacturers (see “By the way”).

LET'S SUPPORT A DOMESTIC MANUFACTURER

In Moscow, for more than two years, they studied and tested several different units of such equipment, including Chinese models (China is the absolute leader in the production of electric vehicles: 98% of all the world's electric vehicles are made in the Middle Kingdom).

We have practically tested all existing versions of electric buses and studied all trends. This is the Chinese way (“long” charging), the European way (ultra-fast charging) and the Belarusian version (hybrid transport with a diesel generator set). There are no serial technologies that we have not covered,” explained Pavel Khmelev, chief engineer of the State Unitary Enterprise Mosgortrans. - We discussed the car for a very long time, more than 500 proposals were received, but we put the following principle at the forefront: the new car should be no worse than the existing buses in terms of comfort for passengers.

As a result, we settled on domestic models, prototypes of which were presented by GAZ and KamAZ (the latter, by the way, are close friends with the Mercedes manufacturer, the Daimler company, so there is no need to think that at the exit, instead of an electric bus, the passenger will receive a dump truck).

WHERE WILL THE TROLLEYBUSES GO?

They will still work out their work. All the talk that there are fewer trolleybuses in the capital is untrue. They just moved from one route to another - to where there is more room for maneuver. After all, today any traffic jam or accident on the lane means that the entire route stops.

Not a single trolleybus has gone anywhere. Not destroyed, not cut, not sent to scrap. We have moved all trolleybuses to those routes that we consider correct from the point of view of the further functioning of trolleybus traffic in Moscow,” assured Maxim Liksutov. - In the central part of the city, where the streets are narrow and there is a need for a large number of changes, the efficiency of trolleybuses is low. It is not wise to use trolleybuses on those routes.

The logic of organizing the work of the capital's transport complex is to find a balance of interests. All participants in city traffic should be as convenient and comfortable as possible, explain representatives of city authorities. Now, with the introduction of the updated Magistral route network, modern buses operate on a number of old trolleybus routes. Over time, a new promising electric mode of transport for the capital will come there too. And the electrical infrastructure that the city inherited from trolleybuses is being modernized to charge electric buses.

REFERENCE

First routes

Starting in 2018, Mosgortrans electric buses will begin operating on the following routes:

No. 7 "m. "Victory Park" - Kaluzhskaya Square"

No. 34K "st. Kravchenko - Kyiv Station"

No. 42 “Rizhsky station - metro station “Dynamo”

No. 76 “Kholmogorskaya st. - metro station "VDNKh"

No. 36 metro station "VDNKh" - Beskudnikovsky lane.

No. 83 “Ussuriyskaya st. - metro station "Preobrazhenskaya Square"

No. 73 “Altufevskoe highway, 102, - metro station “VDNKh” (Yuzhnaya)”

No. 80 “Altufevskoe highway, 102, - Ostashkovskaya street.”

BY THE WAY

Requirements for Moscow transport of the future

Based on testing of electric buses, specialists from the capital’s transport complex formed a technical specification. Here are the requirements for rolling stock for Moscow:

✔ Must be low-floor.

✔ Number of seats in the cabin - 85.

✔ Availability of climate control and thermal curtains at the doors.

✔ Minimum operating time per day is 20 hours.

✔ Battery life is at least 15 years.

✔ Maintenance under a life cycle contract.