OREANDA-NEWS. An odometer of the first Russian large-class electric bus NEFAZ-52992 (Neftekamsk Automobile Plant is a subsidiary of the company) indicated the first 10 thousand kilometers travelled.

The electric bus is used in a corporate vehicle fleet of NOVOSIBIRSK CHEMICAL CONCENTRATES PLANT (NCCP), the largest enterprise of the nuclear fuel cycle, a member of the corporation TVEL. Starting from this May the electric bus runs up to 90 km every day bringing workers to the factory site. Besides, making seven trips per day, the electric bus is charged once in two days.

Designed by experts of the Scientific Research Institute of Combined Power Plants and JSC Neftekamsk Automobile Plant against the order of Liotech Ltd. for Rosatom's fuel corporation TVEL, it became the first Russian electric bus travelling 250 km on a single charge and certified for safety.

The electric bus designed to carry 110 people is based on the NEFAZ-52992 low-entry bus. It is equipped with a three-phase induction motor with a rated output of 150 kW and a lithium iron phosphate battery (LiFePO4) with a capacity of 313.6 kWh three sections of which are placed on the roof, in the cabin and in the rear overhang of the electric bus. The external charging station powering up to 500 kW enables to fully charge the battery of the electric bus within 30 minutes. It takes 8 hours to fully charge the electric bus with a 48 kW on-board charger (the process is called "night charging").

The NEFAZ electric bus features another innovation: a telemetry system transmitting information about the main components and the battery (voltage, temperature of cells, charging rates, and other parameters) to a remote computer of a service center.

The battery of the electric bus proved to be reliable during trial operation over the course of harsh Siberian frosts.

It is much cheaper to use an electric bus than a fuel-powered bus: full charging costs less than 600 roubles at current rates for electricity while fuelling costs four times as much.