Comparisons of Driving Characteristics between Electric and Diesel-Powered Bus Operations along Identical Bus Routes

Abstract

The energy consumption profiles of conventional fuelled and electric vehicles are different due to the fundamental differences in the driving characteristics of these vehicles, which have been actively researched elsewhere but mostly on the basis of uncommon geographical contexts. This study, therefore, collected driving data on electric and conventional diesel buses running along exactly the same set of bus routes in Hong Kong during normal daily revenue operations. This enabled a fair comparison of driving characteristics for both types of bus under identical real-life, on-road driving conditions, which highlighted the originality and contributions of this study. A three-step approach was adopted to carry out detailed driving pattern analyses, which included key driving parameters, speed–acceleration probability distributions (SAPDs), and vehicle-specific power (VSP) distributions. Results found that route-based comparisons did highlight important differences in driving patterns between electric and diesel buses that might have been smoothed out by analyses with mixed-route datasets. In particular, the spread, intensity, and directions of these differences were found to be exaggerated at the route-based level. The differences in driving patterns varied across different routes, which has significant implications on vehicle energy consumption. Government agencies and/or bus operators should make references to these results in formulating electric bus deployment plans.