Impact of Inductive Charging Infrastructure at Intersections on Battery Electric Bus Operations

Battery electric buses are the go-to solution for clean public transport at the moment. But they come with operational challenges. One technology that could potentially help in some of those is inductive in-motion charging, as it reduces additional dwell times and can help minimize battery size. In addition, the infrastructure can also be used by other road users. This paper presents a framework for evaluating the impact of intersection-based inductive charging infrastructure on battery electric bus operations using a traffic simulation and a physics-based energy demand model. The results are split into two categories: first, investigations of the charging lane lengths on a single intersection with increasing traffic volume, and second, implementation of charging infrastructure along a real bus line to better understand the implications of the charged energy in relation to the energy demand. The findings from the analysis reveal that the higher the traffic volume, the longer the charging lanes need to be to make use of the resulting delay times. The analysis indicates that, in our scenario, the bus can charge around 100% of the required energy with a charging lane length of around 80 meters and a charging power of 250kW. This work can inform decision-making for the deployment of charging infrastructure in urban environments and contribute to the development of sustainable urban transportation systems.