Towards electric bus system: planning, operating and evaluating

Doctoral thesis, 2023

The green transformation of public transportation is an indispensable way to achieve carbon neutrality. Governments and authorities are vigorously implementing electric bus procurement and charging infrastructure deployment programs. At this primary but urgent stage, how to reasonably plan the procurement of electric buses, how to arrange the operation of the heterogeneous fleet, and how to locate and scale the infrastructure are urgent issues to be solved. For a smooth transition to full electrification, this thesis aims to propose systematic guidance for the fleet and charging facilities, to ensure life-cycle efficiency and energy conservation from the planning to the operational phase.

One of the most important issues in the operational phase is the charge scheduling for electric buses, a new issue that is not present in the conventional transit system. How to take into account the charging location and time duration in bus scheduling and not cause additional load peaks to the grid is the first issue being addressed. A charging schedule optimization model is constructed for opportunity charging with battery wear and charging costs as optimization objectives. Besides, the uncertainty in energy consumption poses new challenges to daily operations. This thesis further specifies the daily charging schedules with the consideration of energy consumption uncertainty while safeguarding the punctuality of bus services.

In the context of e-mobility systems, battery sizing, charging station deployment, and bus scheduling emerge as crucial factors. Traditionally these elements have been approached and organized separately with battery sizing and charging facility deployment termed planning phase problems and bus scheduling belonging to operational phase issues. However, the integrated optimization of the three problems has advantages in terms of life-cycle costs and emissions. Therefore, a consolidated optimization model is proposed to collaboratively optimize the three problems and a life-cycle costs analysis framework is developed to examine the performance of the system from both economic and environmental aspects.

To improve the attractiveness and utilization of electric public transportation resources, two new solutions have been proposed in terms of charging strategy (vehicle-to-vehicle charging) and operational efficiency (mixed-flow transport). Vehicle-to-vehicle charging allows energy to be continuously transmitted along the road, reducing reliance on the accessibility and deployment of charging facilities. Mixed flow transport mode balances the directional travel demands and facilities the parcel delivery while ensuring the punctuality and safety of passenger transport.