Improving electric city bus powertrain efficiency and costs using design space exploration

The electrification of the bus-based public transportation contributes to the goal of reducing the environmental impact caused by mobility in urban areas. This paper proposes a holistic design exploration approach to investigate and identify the optimal powertrain concept for electric city buses based on the total costs – energy consumption and component costs. A 30-passenger vehicle with a pre-defined driving cycle is investigated to identify the optimal electric powertrain architecture and the resulting component sizes and type. The most cost-effective concept was found to be one with a four-wheel drive configuration with a PMSM motor and a fixed gear transmission on each axle with a power distribution of 22% at the front axle and 78% at the rear axle.     «

The electrification of the bus-based public transportation contributes to the goal of reducing the environmental impact caused by mobility in urban areas. This paper proposes a holistic design exploration approach to investigate and identify the optimal powertrain concept for electric city buses based on the total costs – energy consumption and component costs. A 30-passenger vehicle with a pre-defined driving cycle is investigated to identify the optimal electric powertrain architecture and the...     »