SolutionsPlus Scale-Up Concept Note: Madrid, Spain

Summary

The Madrid scale-up note provides an empirical examination of bus-depot electrification as a systems-integration challenge. Rather than treating electric buses as standalone assets, the document reframes electrification as a depot-wide reconfiguration involving high-voltage infrastructure, charging typologies, software orchestration, and interoperability. The analysis demonstrates how charging architecture—especially the choice of inverted pantographs—functions as a structural determinant of fleet availability, cost profiles, operational flexibility, and long-term scalability. The concept note contributes analytically by comparing depot charging and opportunity charging and situating EMT’s decision within global case studies from Bergen, Eindhoven, Bogotá, Groningen, and Shenzhen. These comparisons underscore a key insight: charging strategy selection is inseparable from local physical constraints (space, existing facilities), institutional capacity, and evolving power systems. The note shows how inverted pantographs, supported by modular chargers up to ~720 kW (page 7–9), enable Madrid to optimise simultaneity coefficients and reduce over-dimensioning—an issue often overlooked in rapid fleet electrification efforts. Finally, the document positions smart charging as the central optimisation mechanism for large-scale depot electrification. The concept note outlines competing optimisation logics—battery preservation, maximum fleet readiness, cost minimisation, and hybrid strategies—and argues that intelligent scheduling transforms physical infrastructure into a flexible energy system that aligns technical, economic, and service-performance objectives. The note’s treatment of smart charging thus serves as a research-relevant example of how digital control layers mediate energy–mobility interactions in public transport electrification.