Total Cost of Ownership analysis and energy efficiency of electric, hybrid and conventional urban buses

Abstract

From an economic perspective, the purchase cost of an electric bus is greater than that of a conventional one. This results from the additional components of the bus drivetrain and the costly charging infrastructure. However, it should be noted that electric bus ensures greener and more sustainable public transport. The presented study focuses on the economic and energy efficiency analysis of city buses with different types of driving system evaluated for selected urban and suburban routes. The routes differ in terms of the number of journeys per day, elevation, the daily distance travelled, and the daily operating time. The results demonstrate that driving conditions can affect economic efficiency. The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) method used in the study shows that electric buses represent the highest TCO values among the vehicles taken into account. However, for the TCO calculated for electric and hybrid buses, fuel (energy) costs have a much lower share than for the TCO of conventional buses.