Methodology for estimating energy consumption for an electric bus and traction battery parameters in operating conditions

Abstract

Problem. An important task when replacing diesel and gas buses with electric buses is to determine the effectiveness of such replacement in terms of its impact on the environment and the cost of purchasing, owning and using electric vehicles during their life cycle, in particular, the task of optimizing the design of electric buses, an important component of which is determining the optimal parameters of the traction battery for the specific operating conditions of such a vehicle. Goal. The goal is determination of real electricity costs and the required capacity of the traction battery for an electric bus, which will ensure with a probability of at least 95% traffic on the route during the day, and the planned period of the traction battery operation. Methodology. The research methods are analytical and mathematical. Results. The method is proposed to determine the real specific consumption of electricity during the operation of an electric bus and substantiate the capacity of the traction battery to ensure the term of its use with a given probability for work on a route of a known length. Originality. It is shown that traction battery capacity must be sufficient to compensate for energy consumption for the movement, electricity constant consumption for powering auxiliary circuits (heating systems, air conditioning, etc.) and take into account with a probability of 0.95 or 0.99 the required additional capacity that will ensure not exceeding the maximum allowable discharge of the traction battery set by its manufacturer. Practical value. The method can be used to determine the real values of specific electricity consumption and traction battery capacity for arbitrary models of electric buses.