Activities to convert the public transport fleet to electric buses

Abstract

Abstract The modern level of motor transport typical for megacities poses a serious problem in the area of providing sustainable power and environmental safety in urbanized areas. Depleting the potential of improving fuel economy in automobiles using traditional fuel types increases the urgency of the issue of transition to alternative energy sources. Despite the fact that a significant part of city transport flows is formed by passenger cars, the transition of public and municipal transport to more environmentally friendly fuel can offset the negative impact of motor transport on the environment. The use of electric buses offers a solid approach to resolving the situation. The paper addresses activities that might lead to the transition to more environmentally friendly electrical vehicles. The paper gives an outline of issues associated with electric buses’ operations. It is shown that, in order to provide reliable and safe functioning of a fleet of electric buses, it is required to develop not only a network of charging stations but to upgrade the existing servicing system. Conditions required for the transition without compromising city transportation system safety are provided, a comparison of electric buses and hybrid cars’ infrastructure with that of conventional fuel cars operating at the Russian Federation market is given. Specifics of electric buses’ maintenance are explored. It is shown that providing the required quality of electric buses’ maintenance using the existing service centers requires a dedicated e-vehicle servicing station since the electric bus battery is charged using an electronically-controlled energy storage unit requiring regular checkups as a component of the electric equipment of the electric propulsion system. A process of daily maintenance of electric buses is developed.