CASE STUDY
Lothian Buses
× Optimo
116
Connectors
6MVA
Power Supply
3 MW
Tradable Flexibility
3
Transformer Circuits
48 h
Hours Full Transition
48 h
Hours Full Transition
What we proved
100% vehicle pull-out maintained from day one - every bus fully charged and ready for morning departure, every day
Full site transition completed in 48 hours - 109 connectors across mixed Kempower and Nidec hardware under Optimo management
Dynamic load distribution across three transformer circuits - congestion eliminated, no manual intervention required overnight
Shunters plug vehicles in and walk away - departure-order priority structure configured across every charging row
ML-driven fault detection and self-healing infrastructure - issues identified and resolved remotely before dispatch is affected
3MW of tradable flexibility to be unlocked
The same deployment model that proved the platform at First Bus and Warrington, rescued Lothian's operations when EO Charging failed. That is what it means to build for mission-critical fleet operators."
– Mo Ismail, Global Director of Sales, Optimo Energy
The Crisis
When a critical operator’s charging platform collapsed overnight, Edinburgh’s buses couldn’t wait.
Optimo replaced the entire system in 48 hours.
Every bus pulled out on time.
Lothian Buses operates one of the UK's most demanding urban bus networks. Edinburgh depends on it. When EO Charging entered administration, Lothian's Central Depot was suddenly without a functioning CPMS platform. The system that was supposed to guarantee overnight charging readiness was gone.
This wasn't a planned migration. There was no runway to evaluate alternatives, run procurement processes or phase a deployment. Lothian needed a platform live on their chargers, managing their fleet, before the next morning pull-out. The operational consequences of failure were immediate and public. Edinburgh's bus services.
Optimo was called in. Within 48 hours, every charger at Central Depot was under Optimo management. EO Charging had zero connection to any charger. Lothian was in full operational control. 100% vehicle pull-out. Maintained from day one.
The rollout
Live system in days. Value in weeks. Revenue in months.
Optimo deployed on-site with one objective: full operational control within 48 hours, with no loss of charging capacity and no disruption to overnight operations. A senior Optimo engineer was on-site from day one through day four, providing continuous oversight and real-time coordination with Lothian's engineering and operations teams. All issues resolved in real time. No delays. No escalation gaps.
Day 1 Site alignment, platform pre-configured and calibrated, first chargers live Day 2 Full site transition complete, all 109 connectors under Optimo management Day 3 Lothian team training, onboarding and standard operating procedures established Day 4 Hypercare period begins, two weeks of intensive monitoring and support
The transition was sequenced transformer by transformer across Central Depot's three substation circuits. Each charger was migrated onto Optimo via OCPP reconfiguration with no hardware changes and no new infrastructure required. The moment a charger was reconfigured it was live on Optimo.
This is the same deployment model already proven in live production at First Bus Caledonia Road and currently running at Warrington's Own Buses. The approach is consistent because the platform is built for exactly this environment.
100% Vehicle Pull-Out Maintained | 48 Hours Full Site Transition | 109 Connectors Under Management
The Revenue Opportunity
Operational stability was the immediate objective - but Optimo is an energy operating system, not a rescue platform.
With Central Depot now fully managed and stable, Lothian can unlock the next layer of value from infrastructure they already own. Central Depot has approximately 3MW of tradable flexibility. At £40,000 to £50,000 per MW per year gross. The Balancing Mechanism is the starting point. The ceiling across Lothian's full depot estate is higher.
What This Means
Most platforms take weeks to deploy. Optimo was live across a 109-connector depot in 48 hours - under emergency conditions, with Edinburgh's entire morning pull-out depending on the outcome. First Bus was a planned proof of concept. Warrington's Own Buses was a structured transition. Lothian was an emergency. The platform performed identically in all three. For any operator whose CPMS dependency is a single point of failure, the Lothian deployment answers the question every operations director eventually asks: what happens if the platform fails? 48 hours. 109 connectors. 100% pull-out. Edinburgh didn't miss a bus.
What Changed
Optimo mapped the full depot layout in hours. Every charging row was configured with its own scheduling logic and departure-order priority structure. Power is now distributed dynamically across all three transformer circuits - no equal allocation, no manual overnight intervention.
Every charger migrated via OCPP reconfiguration. No hardware changes. No new infrastructure. No disruption. Hardware agnostic across Kempower and Nidec - the moment a charger was reconfigured, it was live on Optimo.
Lothian's team now has a single screen: real-time charger status, vehicle state of charge, and readiness alerts for every bus. ML-driven fault detection catches anomalies before they affect dispatch. Self-healing infrastructure resolves most issues remotely.
The manual overnight workaround Edinburgh's bus network had been depending on no longer exists.
Next step
See if your site has the same constraints and unlock the playbook that worked here.
© Copyright Optimo Energy Limited. All Rights Reserved.