Dynamic Zero Emission Bus Corridor Management
Overview
Background & policy context:
Zero-emission mobility corridors allowing decreasing transportation externalities on city inhabitants will soon be an essential component of liveable cities. By limiting access to the corridors to zero-emission vehicles soft mobility modes such as walking and cycling will be less exposed to harmful noise and emissions. High capacity electric buses will be a backbone of such corridors, because they are the only viable energy-efficient transportation means for urban areas with high mobility demand. However, as such buses are new to the industry, many technology-related issues restrict their wide market adoption.
Objectives:
This project researches how to best use intelligent transportation systems (ITS) to improve the capability of plug-in electric-hybrid (PEH) buses to cover large zero-emission zones. PEH buses are a specific type of electric bus that combines an electric engine with a diesel. They can operate only a selection of its route in fully electric mode. Hence, they require ITS control to select the most suitable locations for driving in such a mode. The selection is a complex multi-objective optimisation problem with several correlated factors influencing the optimal selection.
Methodology:
The project identifies three knowledge gaps related to the selection, and addresses them by designing an innovative on-route battery management system for PEH buses. It will allow increasing electric drive range of such buses and reducing overall energy consumption while satisfying various requirements. The project will exploit past research of the postdoc in the fields of advanced driver advisory systems and cooperative ITS. The project will be hosted by E-Bus Competence Centre, which is a new initiative of Volvo Bus Corporation dedicated to electro-mobility services. Thanks to direct access to Volvo PEH buses in Luxembourg and Sweden, the developed solutions will be evaluated in real-life conditions. Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology and University of Luxembourg will be collaborating institutions.
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