Electric Bus: A Critical Overview on the Dawn of Its Widespread Uptake

DOI: 10.1002/adsu.201800151 The replacement of the diesel-fueled bus with the electric bus is already providing tangible energy and economic benefits. By early 2018, out of world’s 3 million buses some 385 000 were already electric buses, though practically all of them (99%) running in China.[3] The amount of diesel fuel displaced depends on the amount of km run every day. According to estimates for the average electric bus,[3] about 500 barrels of diesel fuel per day are displaced by 1000 battery electric buses. Taking into account the number of electric buses on roads in 2017,[3] this translates into displacement of around 177 000 barrels a day of diesel fuel only in that year. Another key energy aspect of the concomitant widespread adoption of renewable energy sources for power generation, particularly solar photovoltaics (PV), and EVs for mobility is the synergistic and beneficial effect on the electricity price. In brief, the significant reduction in electricity costs due the impact of PV generation on the power day ahead market is synergistically magnified by a growing electricity demand.[4] Public transit on electric buses makes travel more comfortable, due to dramatically lower noise and vibration levels, whereas the lack of harmful air pollutants improves the quality of polluted urban air. Maintenance costs decrease due to the drastic reduction in complexity of the electric drivetrain compared to the ICE powertrain. As it happens for all today’s battery electric vehicles, when the vehicle is in braking mode the electric motor acts as a generator and the recovered energy is stored in the batteries extending their capacity. Despite these benefits and perhaps due to dramatic growth in one country only, a number of myths surround both battery and fuel cell electric buses. These include poor mileage (energy autonomy), prohibitive upfront cost, poor performance in steep terrain and with cold weather, lack of articulated electric buses, short duration of battery, and reliability of fuel cells, technically unfeasible rise in electricity demand when entire bus fleets are electrified, and overly expensive cost of the charging or hydrogen refueling infrastructure. Drawing from successful and successful case studied from across the world, this study offers a critical overview of the electric bus technology. We provide a wider perspective which includes economic, environmental, health, and societal aspects. Besides being of direct interest to policy makers and managers at public transit and bus industry companies, the The battery powered electric bus is the first electric vehicle whose market share in the world’s leading industrial economy has surpassed the 80%. Within the next decade (2019–2026), the authors argue, electric buses powered by Li-ion batteries and hydrogen fuel cells will become ubiquitous across the world, displacing bus and coaches powered by fossil fuels burned in the internal combustion engine. Critically reviewing the economic, health, and environmental benefits of the electric bus, this essay offers an updated outlook in a key area of the global energy transition.