Comparison of In-Use Operating Costs of Hybrid-Electric and Conventional School Buses

Hybrid-electric school buses became available in the US through a national consortium designed to bring hybrid-electric school buses to market by creating enough demand among school districts to encourage manufacturers to invest in development of the technology. A number of school districts in the US joined the HESB project to purchase plug-in hybrid-electric school buses. Sixteen hybrid-electric school buses were purchased and piloted in 11 states. Two of the hybrid-electric school buses were purchased by the Nevada and Sigourney school districts in the state of Iowa, US. In-use fuel economy and electricity operating costs were monitored for the two Iowa hybrid school buses and two control buses (one in each district). Fuel consumption and other operational metrics were calculated and compared for each school district. The hybrid buses were deployed in January 2008 and data were recorded through May 2010. Valuation of the data indicated that the Nevada HESB had 29.6% better fuel economy than the control bus and the Sigourney HESB had 39.2% better fuel economy than the control bus. Electrical costs per mile were also calculated for the two hybrid-electric school buses. Total operating costs per mile were calculated based on fuel use per mile for all buses and electrical costs for the hybrid-electric school buses. The cost to operate the hybrid bus in Nevada was 37 cents/mile while the control bus cost 42 cents/mile, making the hybrid bus 13% less expensive to operate. The hybrid bus in Sigourney was 27 cents/mile while the control bus was 34 cents/mile, making the hybrid bus 21% less expensive to operate. All values are in US dollars.

Evaluation of In-Use Fuel Economy for Hybrid and Regular Transit Buses

Fuel costs are a significant portion of transit agency budgets. Hybrid technology offers an attractive option and has the potential to significantly reduce operating costs for agencies. The main impetus behind use of hybrid transit vehicles is fuel savings and reduced emissions. Laboratory tests have indicated that hybrid transit buses can have significantly higher fuel economy and lower emissions compared to conventional transit buses. However, the number of studies is limited and laboratory tests may not represent actual driving conditions since in-use vehicle operation differs from laboratory test cycles. Several initial studies have suggested that the fuel economy savings reported in laboratory tests may not be realized on-road. The objective of the project described in this paper was to evaluate the in-use fuel economy differences between hybrid-electric and conventional transit buses for the Ames, Iowa (USA) transit authority. On-road fuel economy was evaluated over a 12-month period for 12 hybrid and 7 control transit buses. Fuel economy comparisons were also provided for several older in-use bus types. Buses other than the control and hybrid buses were grouped by model year corresponding to US diesel emission standards. Average fuel economy in miles per gallon was calculated for each bus group overall and by season. Hybrid buses had the highest fuel economy for all time periods for all bus types. Hybrid buses had a fuel economy that was 11.8% higher than control buses overall and was 12.2% higher than buses with model years 2007 and higher, 23.4% higher than model years 2004 to 2006, 10.2% higher than model years 1998 to 2003, 38.1% higher than for model years 1994 to 1997, 36.8% higher for model years 1991 to 1993, and 36.8% higher for model years pre-1991. Differences between groups of buses also varied by season of the year.