Techno-economic study for the implementation of electric buses for sustainable urban and interurban transportation

A cleaner transportation sector requires the implementation of a variety of measures, such as the use of electric vehicles. Electric mobility has seen increasing use in public transportation, even though it still faces significant challenges. Electric bus fleets require high-performance batteries to minimize the cost and weight of the buses. This paper investigates the energy consumption of an electric bus in urban and interurban transit using two methods: forward-facing and backward-facing approaches. The obtained findings have shown that the energy consumption of a bus depends on the road and its characteristics, ranging between 0.98 and 1.39 kWh/km. Furthermore, a regenerative braking analysis has been performed, and it has been found that this factor plays a significant role in reducing energy consumption by 21%. Finally, a life cycle assessment and an environmental analysis have been conducted. The obtained results have shown that the total cost of ownership of the buses in this project will be around 1.76 $/km. The use of electric buses could eliminate the greenhouse gas emissions produced by public transportation in the investigated province.