Performance evaluation of hybrid-drive buses and potential fuel savings in Brazilian urban transit

Transporting more than 55 million passengers per day, buses are the main transit mode in Brazil. Most of these vehicles use diesel oil and this situation causes dependence on oil, extensive greenhouse gas emissions and increasing air pollution in urban areas. In order to improve this situation the o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Transportation (Dordrecht) 2004-11, Vol.31 (4), p.479-496
Main Authors: DE ALMEIDA D'AGOSTO, Marcio, KAHN RIBEIRO, Suzana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air pollution
Alternative fuels
Applied sciences
Brazil
Buses
Carbon dioxide
Cost control
Data processing
Emissions
Energy consumption
Energy efficiency
Exact sciences and technology
Field tests
Fuel economy
fuel savings
Fuels
Greenhouse gases
Ground, air and sea transportation, marine construction
hybrid drives
Hybrid vehicles
Metropolitan areas
Oil consumption
Passengers
Performance evaluation
Road transportation and traffic
Standard deviation
Statistical analysis
Transport
Transportation planning, management and economics
Urban areas
urban transit
Vehicle emissions
Vehicles
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Summary:Transporting more than 55 million passengers per day, buses are the main transit mode in Brazil. Most of these vehicles use diesel oil and this situation causes dependence on oil, extensive greenhouse gas emissions and increasing air pollution in urban areas. In order to improve this situation the options for Brazilian cities include the use of alternative fuels and new propulsion technologies, such as hybrid vehicles. This article proposes a procedure for evaluating the performance of a recently developed Brazilian hybrid-drive technology. A simple procedure is presented to compare hybrid-drive buses with conventional diesel buses in urban operation focusing on fuel economy and the potential for reducing diesel oil consumption through the use of hybrid-drive buses. Field tests carried out by the authors indicate that fuel consumption improvement through the use of hybrid-drive buses would certainly exceed 20%, resulting in lower fuel costs and reduced carbon dioxide (CO sub(2)) emissions.
ISSN:0049-4488
1572-9435
DOI:10.1023/B:PORT.0000037119.24386.64