City of Sheffield to protect air quality with ABB electric vehicle chargers

25-05-2021

Fleet of 27 Terra 54 chargers for private cars and taxis will be key element in new Clean Air Zone

ABB’s rapid electric vehicle (EV) charging points are helping Sheffield City Council to promote ultra-low emission transport as part of a new Clean Air Zone. Specialist energy contract company Franklin Energy is delivering the infrastructure as part of a £1.2 million project to deploy 27 charging points across 11 sites in the city centre. It selected ABB’s Terra 54 technology thanks to an excellent track record of reliability.

Rob Byrne, Managing Director of Franklin Energy said: “Franklin Energy designs, builds and operates infrastructure on behalf of councils and private car park owners so reliability is our top priority. We installed our first ABB Terra chargers in Salford and they’ve provided great service, making ABB our first choice for rapid charging.”

Sheffield City Council is introducing its Clean Air Zone in 2021 after recognizing that transport is the city’s biggest source of air pollution, contributing to 500 deaths a year. The new infrastructure will incentivize drivers to switch from diesel or petrol to electric vehicles, which will cut levels of nitrogen dioxide and particulates. The Clean Air Zone will focus on buses, light and heavy goods vehicles and taxis. Together, these represent around 20 percent of traffic but are responsible for half of air pollution.

Fifteen of the 27 chargers have contactless payment terminals supported by the ABB Ability™ Connected Services. The remaining 12 chargers are dedicated for Sheffield’s licensed taxis and have been set up to provide dedicated access to taxi drivers who have pre-registered with an app set up by Franklin Energy.

Oliver Johnson, ABB’s Business Development Manager for EV charging in the UK, said: “Digital technology is as important as the electrical equipment in ABB’s rapid chargers. For example, our customers use remote monitoring and control to guarantee maximum availability for drivers and we can load software that provides bespoke access to specific groups like Sheffield’s taxi drivers.”

The Terra 54 chargers provide power rated at 50 kW, which can add more than 100 km of range in as little as 25 minutes. However, ABB has supplied them with an additional 43 kW AC outlet, making them compatible with plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).

Since entering the e-mobility market in 2010, ABB has now sold more than 400,000 electric vehicle chargers across more than 85 market, including more than 20,000 fast chargers.

Explore ABB’s electric vehicle charging portfolio at www.abb.com/ev-charging