Towards renewable public transport : Mining the performance of electric buses using solar-radiation as an auxiliary power source

• Transforming the road public transport to run on renewable energy is vital solution to achieve carbon neutral and net zero goals. This paper evaluates the potential of using solar radiation-generated electricity as an auxiliary power supplementary for the battery of electric buses, based on a developed framework that using publicly street-view panoramas, GPS trajectory data and DEM data as input parameters of solar radiation model. A case study of Qingdao, China with 547 bus routes, 28,661 street-view panoramas shows that the solar-radiation electricity generated at noon during the operation accounts for about one-fifth, one-eighth of the total elec-tricity consumption of a bus traveling one kilometer in a sunny day and a cloudy day, respectively. Spatial variability shows significant solar-radiation power generation advantages in newly-launched areas and expressway. The solar power generated in a sunny day can make a bus half of passengers and with air conditioner off at least one extra trip in 2:1 replacement schedule, and nearly close to one extra trip in 4:3 replacement schedule. A correlated relation between the solar-radiation power generation benefit and the operation schedule of electric buses is observed, implying that the high cost of 2:1 replacement schedule for long-distance routes during summer or winter can be reduced. The proposed framework can help us evaluate and understand the feasibility of solar radiation-generated electricity energy of electric bus fleets covering the large-scale urban areas at different times, locations, and weather conditions, so as to support effective decisions at better planning of PV-integrated electric buses.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Industriell bioteknik -- Bioenergi (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Industrial Biotechnology -- Bioenergy (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Electric buses

Solar radiation-generated electricity

Spatio-temporal distribution

Operation schedule

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