Everywhere in Arnhem an industrial charging point, so electric construction cranes and electric trucks can charge. This will soon be possible in Arnhem, as a mobile high-power charging point can be connected to half of the more than 4000 trolley poles. This will allow road works and construction projects to be carried out largely zero-emission. This was decided by the city council with the Charging Strategy for Construction and Logistics.
Second Power Grid
‘We want major road works to be carried out as much as possible zero-emission,’ says Alderman for Sustainable Mobility Nermina Kundić. ‘In the coming year, it will involve 10 to 15 major projects. Zero-emission work leads to cleaner air and is also quieter for local residents. But for that, you need sufficient charging points to charge all those heavy machines. With the overloaded electricity grid, that is a big problem everywhere in the Netherlands. However, with the use of the Arnhem trolley network – unique in the Netherlands – this is possible. This trolley network is essentially a second power grid that is hardly used at night.’
Charging at Night, Clean Work During the Day
The trolley network stretches like a spider web throughout the city. Therefore, there is always a trolley pole near a construction site. The intention is to install several industrial charging points with high power at a trolley pole during a road reconstruction. Temporarily, for the duration of the work. After that, the charging point will be removed and can be used elsewhere in the city. At night – when there are almost no buses running – all heavy electric equipment can be charged. To have extra power during the day, it is possible to charge one or more large batteries. This way, zero-emission work can be done all day long.
No Disruption for Buses
Arnhem owns the trolley network itself, but works intensively with Transdev, which has provided public bus transport in the region in recent years and will continue to do so for the next ten years under the name RRReis. ‘Public transport must not be hindered by this,’ explains Kundić, ‘the trolleys must also be able to charge and run on time.’
Project manager trolley infrastructure at Transdev Hans Aldenkamp: ‘Transdev and innovation go hand in hand. That must happen, because without innovation, progress towards less emissions and a healthier living environment stagnates. We are proud to work on this daily, together with the municipality, regional SMEs, and students from HAN University of Applied Sciences.’
Charging Squares and Fast Chargers
Arnhem had previously put a charging square for heavy equipment into use, but that is at one fixed location in the new harbor. Kundić: ‘The use of the trolley network actually provides about a thousand charging points throughout the city.’ The municipality also wants to see if several fixed charging squares for industrial use can be established, where charging can also take place during the day. It is also being considered whether third-party fast charging locations can be used for this purpose.
Alderman for Sustainable Mobility Nermina Kundić and Alexander ten Have from Transdev connect an electric construction crane to the trolley network.
