Economic and social aspects of development and application of troleybuses with autonomous running in Ukraine

Abstract

One of the important components of the passenger transportation system in many domestic cities is trolleybus transport, as one of the types of environmentally friendly urban passenger vehicles for public use. Since the beginning of the 2000s, in many countries of the world, its intensive development has been taking place at a new level thanks to the use of trolleybuses with autonomous running, capable of transporting passengers on sections of routes not equipped with a contact electrical network. The purpose of this study is to analyze the economic and social aspects of the development and use of trolleybuses with autonomous running in Ukraine. Based on the analysis of the main design parameters of trolleybuses with autonomous running, the effect of autonomous mileage on reducing the nominal passenger capacity without increasing the permissible gross weight regulated for classic trolleybuses and buses was assessed. The market value of new modern models of trolleybuses of Ukrainian and Belarusian manufacturers, equipped with various autonomous sources of electricity, in particular traction batteries and supercapacitors, was analyzed. The inadequacy of the market value of trolleybuses with autonomous running is shown, which is much higher than classic trolleybuses. A generalized evaluation indicator of the technical excellence of trolleybuses with autonomous running is proposed, which takes into account the total structural weight, nominal passenger capacity and autonomous mileage. Two options for the development of trolleybus transport and its integration into urban transport systems are considered, related either to the existing trolleybus electric networks or, in the near future, to the reconstruction and construction of more powerful electric substations for faster charging of autonomous sources of electric energy. Their implementation will ensure a significant increase in the autonomous mileage of trolleybuses without a significant increase in the capacity of autonomous sources of electricity. Proposed measures to ensure the active development of urban and suburban passenger transport systems based on the use of trolleybuses with autonomous running.