Driving and Energy Profiles of Urban Bus Routes Predicted for Operation with Battery Electric Buses

Battery electric buses are used for operation on urban bus routes. The main disadvantage of battery electric buses is their limited range that depends on energy consumption. This paper presents a new approach to the estimation of energy consumption on urban bus routes based on driving and energy profiles. The energy consumption results from the travel parameters along the bus route. The travel parameters are described by driving profiles. The determination of driving profiles is based on GPS location data recorded by a receiver on a bus. Location data are recorded at consecutive track points at a constant frequency. For each track point, the distance to the preceding track point is determined using the location data, and then the speed and acceleration are calculated. The analyzed bus route is divided into sections. For each section, travel parameters consisting of travel time, speed parameters, and acceleration parameters are determined. Using travel parameters, the energy consumption is estimated for individual sections and the entire bus route. The estimated energy consumption is described by energy profiles. Experimental results have been obtained for the selected urban bus route under various traffic conditions. For the assumed model of energy consumption, the energy consumed on the entire bus route is 1.8 KWh/km at off-peak hours and 2.1 KWh/km at peak hours. The driving and energy profiles describe the urban bus routes well and allow evaluation of the suitability of the bus route for operation with battery electric buses.