Electric Bus Planning Framework

MJB&A’s electric bus planning framework encompasses several interconnected analyses to evaluate capital and operating requirements for transit bus fleet electrification. These analyses evaluate the capabilities of commercially available bus models (battery size, energy use) in the context of a given agency’s operations (route profiles, service levels, electricity tariff) to determine what would be required to transition the fleet from existing diesel, hybrid, or natural gas buses to battery electric buses: number of electric buses required, necessary charging infrastructure, projected electricity use and cost, labor requirements for charging, etc. The framework can be used to elevate and compare various electric bus charging strategies, including overnight depot charging and in-route charging.

The outputs from the framework can be tailored to the specific needs of each agency, and can include:

• Projected total life cycle cost ($/mi) of electric buses compared to diesel, hybrid, or CNG buses
• Projected life cycle emissions (g/mi) of electric buses compared to diesel, hybrid, or CNG buses
• Incremental capital costs for electric bus fleet transition, by year and total Annual operating costs of electric buses, by year
• Necessary investments in charging infrastructure, by year
• Projected charging load (kW) and electricity use (kWh)
• Operational changes required to accommodate electric buses