eUltimate

Battery electric buses are being launched in many cities, with multiple charging technologies and operational schemes available. Along the lifetime of a vehicle, different charging schemes have specific impact on the operating costs, allocation of public space and emissions.  In general, the electrification of existing bus routes usually implies an increment in the number of vehicles and operating costs in comparison to conventional fleets.   

The aim of this project is to develop a decision support system (DSS) that designs the optimal charging system for a given city and quantifies the impact of the electric service on bus agencies and other stakeholders. The project is focused on the link between vehicle and charger, the cornerstone for their deployment in cities.  

Data related to the performance of battery electric buses is being gathered in seven Hungarian cities, Badalona, Barcelona, Děčín, Lisbon and Milan. This data will be statistically analysed to characterise how vehicle technology, vehicle size, route parameters, ridership and climatic conditions affect the energy consumption of electric fleets in significantly different conditions. In a second step, a toolkit will also calculate the required resources (vehicles and chargers) needed for the deployment of a specific technology as well as the total cost to be incurred by the transit operator.  

In this way, the DSS will identify the powertrain and technology that better suits the mobility requirements for each route under study, based on the particular features of the site. This approach outperforms the tools developed by vehicle manufacturers for a single charging solution. The toolkit will not only consider the current performance of technologies on the market but will draw on future powertrains that will be commercialised over the next two to four years.