Electric Bus Systems

Pure electric buses (EBs) offer an alternative fuel for the nation’s transit bus systems. To evaluate EBs in a transit setting, this project investigated the five electric bus fleet of the StarMetro transit system of the city of Tallahassee, FL. For the study, the implementing strategy, route distances and timings, charging times, fuel economies, impact of chargers, and maintenance and operational characteristics were analyzed. The results were compared to a baseline five diesel bus fleet. The results showed that even with a four-fold improvement in fuel efficiency, the operational costs of electric buses were only 10% lower than that for diesel buses. The results showed that for EBs, the electricity cost due to demand charges was identified to be a major contributor to the electricity cost. To mitigate the high demand charges, researchers developed a method that can reduce the demand charge by optimizing the charging strategy. By using the optimized charging schedule, the demand charges can be reduced by up to 45%.

• Record URL:
  http://fsec.ucf.edu/en/publications/pdf/FSEC-CR-2060-17.pdf
• 
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/32269
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
• Corporate Authors:

  Electric Vehicle Transportation Center (EVTC)

  University of Central Florida
  1679 Clearlake Road
  Cocoa, FL  United States  32922-5703

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Qin, Nan
  • Brooker, R Paul
  • Raissi, Ali
• Publication Date: 2017-4

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Figures; Maps; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 19p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus transit; Bus transit operations; Costs; Demand; Electric buses; Electric vehicle charging; Electricity; Fleet management; Operating costs; Optimization
• Geographic Terms: Tallahassee (Florida)
• Subject Areas: Economics; Public Transportation; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01637783
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FSEC-CR-2060-17
• Contract Numbers: DTRT13-G-UTC51
• Files: UTC, NTL, TRIS, RITA, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Jun 5 2017 6:04PM