IER, a subsidiary of the Bolloré Group-one of the 500 largest companies in the world, is a French industrial designer of solutions that improve the flow of goods and people worldwide.
At a time when electric vehicles (EVs) are taking their place as alternative transportation to help reconcile ecological and economic goals, IER plays a major role by offering a range of intelligent and connected charging solutions and an extensive range of services to support deployment to its customers.
Buoyed by its contribution to the Autolib' project, the widest-ranging public electric car sharing service deployed throughout a large European metropolis, IER has the expertise to provide charging infrastructure for electric cars for private users and companies, public and private parking facilities, car sharing services— and even urban public transit.
COP21, a climate conference aimed at reaching an international agreement to limit global warming that takes place in Paris, provided IER a platform to showcase the technology and of-fer a solution for attendee transportation. Events like COP21, provide a great opportunity to utilize EV technology, such as the 6-meter Bluebus, since there are large groups of attendees needing to get from one place to another in an efficient way.
The Bluebus carries up to 22 people and has a range of 120 km needed for a full day of use.
In addition to using the electric buses at COP21, Bolloré Group also created the center of the capital a showcase for the 100 percent electric vehicles. The Bolloré Group will circulate Bluetram–the tram with no rail–no catenary, on the Champs-Elysees from December 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016.
Business Problem
Due to timing sensitivity of the project, IER needed to take a modular approach and have one base controller board that could be used in both the telemetry box as well as the charger station controller.
Solution
Each of IER’s new generation EVs—including the buses and the charging sessions—utilize the Digi ConnectCore® 6. The module acts as the heart of the system. It provides communication—Wi-Fi, BT, a.o—to the outside world (supervising battery and providing connection between sta-tions.
The state-of-the-art SMT design of the ConnectCore 6 allows for easy production, and its pre-certified radio integration allows for easy integration and fast certification of the final product.
As IER’s modular approach required, the Telemetry box is used in the cars and busses, and the charging station is a special spin of their board with small differences to the telemetry box.
Results
The ConnectCore 6 enabled IER to quickly reduce cost on their current system and is helping position the company for future growth.
The 12-meter Bluebus has been introduced to the public on the Champ-de-Mars around the event, which enabled STIF and RATP to communicate their plan to eradicate diesel buses in the Ile-de-France by 2025. These Bluebuses will join the RATP transit system from the first semester of 2016 as part of the first 100% electric bus line experiment.