Electric Bus Scheduling and Timetabling, Fast Charging Infrastructure Planning, and Their Impact on the Grid: A Review

Abstract

Transit agencies are increasingly embracing electric buses (EB) as an energy-efficient and emission-free alternative to the conventional bus fleets. They are rapidly replacing conventional buses with electric ones. As a result, emerging challenges of electrifying public transportation bus networks in cities should be addressed. Introducing electric buses to the bus transit system would affect the public transit operation planning steps. The steps are network design, timetabling, bus scheduling, and crew scheduling. Regarding the functional and operational differences between conventional buses and electric buses, such stages should be changed and optimized to enhance the level of service for the users while reducing operating costs for service providers. Many mathematical optimization models have been developed for conventional buses. However, such models would not fit the electric buses due to EBs’ limited traveling range and long charging time. Therefore, new mathematical models should be developed to consider the unique features of electric buses. We present a comprehensive literature review to critically review and classify the work done on these topics. This paper compares the studies that have been done in this field and highlight the missing links and gaps in the considered papers, and the potential future studies that could be done. The considered papers cover the integration of timetabling and vehicle scheduling, recharging scheduling planning, and fast charging infrastructure location planning and its impacts on the grid. The main goal of this research is to highlight the research gaps and potential directions for future studies in this domain to encourage more realistic and applicable models and solution approaches for fully electric bus transit systems.