EVS Power Into The Caribbean
July 1, 2008
A fleet of 7 Electric trams went into service in December ’07 at the world famous Harrison’s Caves on the Caribbean island of Barbados.
EVS designed, installed and commissioned the electrical control system which powered the trams.
The project was successfully completed over an 18 month period and coincided with the re-opening of the Historical site of the caves after alterations to visitors amenities.
The project posed many challenges – not least the 20% gradients which the trams had to negotiate when pulling 2 trailers with up to 36 passengers on board.
EVS utilised SC2000 controllers to provide the power to the 4 wheel transmission to give the required torque to climb the gradients.
The trams operate for up to 8 hours per day relying on an overnight charge of the batteries to keep them powering through the caves.
All of the lighting and p. a. systems as well as the power steering take their power from a 1200 watt converter system fitted on board which discharges the battery evenly without untidy battery tappings.
6 months on has seen trouble free operation of the trams with on-going engineer training playing a big part in the maintenance of the machines.