Assessing feasibility of overnight-charging electric bus in a real-world BRT system in the context of a developing country

Document Type : Article

Authors

1 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, P.O. Box 14115-111, Iran

2 Department of Civil Engineering, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Air pollution, as a major urban problem in metropolises, has harmful impacts on societies in many aspects. According to the worn-out fleet of diesel buses and fossil fuel dependencies in Tehran, alternative fuels have become more popular in sustainable public transportation. Although battery electric buses (BEBs) provide many benefits, their purchase price and required infrastructure are the main challenges for decision-makers. This paper provides a systematic approach to examine the environmental, traffic and economic efficiency of overnight-charging electric buses (OCEBs) in Tehran, Iran. Environmental analysis shows that Carbon Oxide and Nitrogen Oxide will reduce to zero, and eliminate dependence on fossil fuels. The payback period predicted to be 7 years. Due to the better acceleration of OCEBs, the travel time, delay and stop time reduce about 4%, 10.67%, and 5.15% on average, respectively which leads to a better experience of passengers and an increase in public transportation utility that cause more people attract to OCEBs. The present results indicate the feasibility of OCEBs implementation as a sustainable transportation mode and can be useful in decision-making of policymakers and planning for future public transport system.

Keywords

References

References:
1. Macioszek, E., Karami, A., Farzin, I., et al. "The effect of distance intervals on walking likelihood in different trip purposes", Sustainability, 14(6), p. 3406 (2022).
2. World Health Organization, Ambient Air Pollution: A Global Assessment of Exposure and Burden of Disease (2016).
3. IEA, CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion 2015, CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion, OECD Publishing, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/co2 fuel-2015- en (2015).
4. Hensher, D.A. "Sustainable public transport systems: Moving towards a value for money and networkbased approach and away from blind commitment", Transport Policy, 14(1), pp. 98-102 (2007).
5. Kopp, A., Block, R.I., and Iimi, A., Turning the Right Corner: Ensuring Development Through a Low- Carbon Transport Sector, World Bank Publications (2013).
6. Chaturvedi, V. and Kim, S.H. "Long term energy and emission implications of a global shift to electricitybased public rail transportation system", Energy Policy, 81, pp. 176-185 (2015).
7. Lajunen, A. and Lipman, T. "Lifecycle cost assessment and carbon dioxide emissions of diesel, natural gas, hybrid electric, fuel cell hybrid and electric transit buses", Energy, 106, pp. 329-342 (2016).
8. Chan, S., Miranda-Moreno, L.F., Alam, A., et al. "Assessing the impact of bus technology on greenhouse gas emissions along a major corridor: a lifecycle analysis", Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 20, pp. 7-11 (2013).
9. Nanaki, E.A., Koroneos, C.J., Roset, J., et al.  Environmental assessment of 9 European public bus transportation systems", Sustainable Cities and Society, 28, pp. 42-52 (2017).
10. Wu, Y., Zhang, S.J., Li, M.L., et al. "The challenge to NOx emission control for heavy-duty diesel vehicles in China", Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, 12(7), pp. 18565-18604 (2012).
11. Ercan, T., Onat, N.C., and Tatari, O. "Investigating carbon footprint reduction potential of public transportation in United States: A system dynamics approach", Journal of Cleaner Production, 133, pp. 1260-1276 (2016).
12. Corazza, M.V., Guida, U., Musso, A., et al. "A European vision for more environmentally friendly buses", Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 45, pp. 48-63 (2016).
13. Pihlatie, M., Kukkonen, S., Halmeaho, T., et al. "Fully electric city buses - The viable option", In 2014 IEEE International Electric Vehicle Conference (IEVC), pp. 1-8 (2014).
14. Global Green Growth Institute and Center for Study of Science, Electric Buses in India: Technology, Policy and Benefits, GGGI (2015).
15. Rupp, M., Rieke, C., Handschuh, N., et al. "Economic and ecological optimization of electric bus charging considering variable electricity prices and CO2eq intensities", Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 81, p. 102293 (2020).
16. He, Y., Liu, Z., and Song, Z. "Optimal charging scheduling and management for a fast-charging battery electric bus system", Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 142, p. 102056 (2020).
17. Hamurcu, M. and Tamer E. "Electric bus selection with multicriteria decision analysis for green transportation", Sustainability, 12(7), p. 2777 (2020).
18. Lajunen, A. "Energy consumption and cost-benefit analysis of hybrid and electric city buses", Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 38, p. 1-15 (2014).
19. Xylia, M., Leduc, S., Laurent, A.B., et al. "Impact of bus electrification on carbon emissions: The case of Stockholm", Journal of Cleaner Production, 209, pp. 74-87 (2019).
20. Song, Q., Wang, Z., Wu, Y., et al. "Could urban electric public bus really reduce the GHG emissions: A case study in Macau", Journal of Cleaner Production, 172, pp. 2133-2142 (2018).
21. Aber, J., Electric Bus Analysis for New York City Transit, Columbia University, New York City (2016).
22. Mahmoud, M., Garnett, R., Ferguson, M., et al. "Electric buses: a review of alternative powertrains", Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., 62, pp. 673-684 (2016).
23. Meishner, F. and Dirk, U.S. "Technical and economic comparison of different electric bus concepts based on actual demonstrations in European cities", IET Electrical Systems in Transportation, 10(2), pp. 144- 153 (2020).
24. Yu, K.H. "Policy drivers for electrifying public transport vehicles in Hong Kong: Stakeholder responses", HKU Theses Online (HKUTO) (2013).
25. Al-Ahmadi, H.M., Jamal, A., Reza, I., et al. "Using microscopic simulation-based analysis to model driving behavior: a case study of Khobar-dammam in Saudi Arabia", Sustainability, 11(11), pp. 1-18 (2019).
26. Abbasi, M., Hosseinlou, M.H., Sarreshtehdari, A., et al. "Evaluation of transit signal priority for bus rapid transit in heterogeneous traffic  flow", Tehnicki vjesnik, 28(6), pp. 2080-2087 (2021).
27. Panis, L.I., Broekx, S., and Liu, R. "Modelling instantaneous traffic emission and the influence of traffic speed limits", Science of the Total Environment, 371(1), pp. 270-285 (2006).
28. Abedian, S., Mirsanjari, M.M., and Salmanmahiny, A. "Investigating the effect of suburban buses on traffic  flow and carbon monoxide emission by aimsun simulation software", Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, 49(6), pp. 1-12 (2021).
29. Samaras, C., Tsokolis, D., Toffolo, S., et al. "Improving fuel consumption and CO2 emissions calculations in urban areas by coupling a dynamic micro traffic model with an instantaneous emissions model", Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 65, pp. 772-783 (2018).
30. Rodriguez-Rey, D., Guevara, M., Linares, M.P., et al. "A coupled macroscopic traffic and pollutant emission modelling system for Barcelona", Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 92, pp. 1-17 (2021).
31. Abbasi, M., Hosseinlou, M.H., and JafarzadehFadaki, S. "An investigation of Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT) based on economic and air pollution analysis (Tehran, Iran)", Case Studies on Transport Policy, 8(2), pp. 553-563 (2020).
32. Transportation and Traffic Organization of Tehran Municipality (TTOTM) "Review of comprehensive statistics and information of Tehran", Retrieved from http://www.tehran.ir/ (accessed 5 January 2020).
33. Tehran times Retrieved from https://www. tehrantimes.com/news/421154/Messy-air-pollutiontransport- sector-largely-at-fault (Feb. 11, 2018).
34. Rilett, L.R. "Using simulation to estimate and forecast transportation metrics: Lessons learned", Innovation for Sustainable Infrastructure, pp. 23-33 (2020).
35. Bhattacharyya, K., Maitra, B., and Boltze, M. "Calibration of micro-Simulation model parameters for heterogeneous traffic using mode-specific performance measure", Transportation Research Record, 2674(1), pp. 135-147 (2020).
36. Martis, M.S. "Validation of simulation based models: a theoretical outlook", The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 4(1), pp. 39-46 (2006).
37. Banks, J., Carson, I.I., Nelson, B.L., and Nicol, D.M., Discrete-Event System Simulation, Pearson (2014).
38. BYD "BYD 18M- battery electric bus brochure", Retrieved from http://sg.byd.com/wp-content/uploads/ 2018/01/BYD-EV-case-collection (2018).
39. FHWA, Economic Analysis Primer, Office of Asset Management, U.S. Federal Highway Administration (2003).
40. TSS-Transport Simulation Systems, Aimsun 7 Dynamic Simulator User's Manual (2012).
41. Exchange-rates, Retrieved from https://www. exchange-ates.org/ (accessed 1 March 2020).
42. Chatfield, Ch. "The holt-winters forecasting procedure", Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series C (Applied Statistics), 27(3), pp. 264-279 (1978).
43. Boardman, A.E., Greenberg, D.H., Vining, A.R., et al., Cost-Benefit Analysis: Concepts and Practice, Cambridge University Press (2017).
44. Knoema "Knoema cooperation", Retrieved from https://knoema.com/atlas/Iran/Diesel-price (2020).
45. Technica, C., Retrieved from Clean Technica, https://cleantechnica.com/2017/06/19/aspen-spend- 7-5-million-electric-buses-char ging-stations/ (March 9, 2020).
46. Farooq, A., Xie, M., Stoilova, S., et al. "Multicriteria evaluation of transport plan for high-speed rail: An application to Beijing-Xiongan", Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 2019(1), pp. 1-23 (2019).
47. Wang, X. and Gonzalez, J.A. "Assessing feasibility of electric buses in small and medium-sized communities", International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 7(6), pp. 431-448 (2013).
Scientia Iranica
Volume 29, Issue 6
Transactions on Civil Engineering (A)
November and December 2022
Pages 2968-2978

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 07 June 2021
  • Revise Date: 06 November 2021
  • Accept Date: 27 June 2022

Share

How to cite

Statistics