On the integration of battery electric buses into urban bus networks

Nicolas Dirks, Maximilian Schiffer, Grit Walther

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cities all around the world struggle with urban air quality due to transportation related emissions. In public transport networks, replacing internal combustion engine buses by electric buses provides an opportunity to improve air quality. Hence, many bus network operators currently ask for an optimal transformation plan to integrate battery electric buses into their fleet. Ideally, this plan also considers the installation of necessary charging infrastructure to ensure a fleet's operational feasibility. Against this background, we introduce an integrated modeling approach to determine a cost-optimal, long-term, multi-period transformation plan for integrating battery electric buses into urban bus networks. Our model connects central strategic and operational decisions. We minimize total cost of ownership and analyze potential reductions of nitrogen oxide emissions. Our results base on a case study of a real-world bus network and show that a comprehensive integration of battery electric buses is feasible and economically beneficial. By analyzing the impact of battery capacities and charging power on the optimal fleet transformation, we show that medium-power charging facilities combined with medium-capacity batteries are superior to networks with low-power or high-power charging facilities.

Original languageEnglish
Article number103628
JournalTransportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies
Volume139
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2022

Keywords

  • Charging infrastructure design
  • Electric buses
  • Fleet transformation

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