Battery Electric vehicles produce zero local emissions and reduce dependency on fossil fuels. They open up possibility of efficient use of renewable energy in transport sector. India is endowed with high solar irradiance in most of the regions and seasons. Hence, tapping the solar energy for electrification of vehicles would be a sustainable solution in long run.
Since significant amount of fossil fuels are consumed for public transportation, electrification of public transportation is a necessary step towards sustainability. However, range limitation is a serious constraint for electric buses. The technologies such as lightweight design of bus body and integration of solar panels on roof top of the bus can help in reducing the total energy consumption requirement. Although the technological as well as commercial feasibility of solar panel-integrated electric vehicles have often been questioned, in recent times there is an increased interest on this technology, fueled by some technological developments such as thin film solar cells.
In this paper, potential utilization of lightweight technologies and solar energy for public transport electric buses has been explored. In this context, the following analysis has been carried out:
- 1
Solar integrated lightweight electric bus model has been developed using Scilab XCOS considering Delhi Bus Driving Cycle (DBDC) towards estimation of energy consumption.
- a)
Aluminium intensive bus body design has been considered in the place of conventional steel bus body.
- b)
Solar PV panels are placed on the roof top of the bus to generate electricity which can be fed to the battery system
- 2
A comparative life cycle energy savings has been carried out for lightweight electric bus integrated with solar panels in comparison to conventional electric buses.