By shifting to electric-powered buses, cities can unlock the twin benefits of emissions reductions and cleaner air. But the transition requires more than simply replacing conventional buses with electric alternatives
DIRECTIVE OF TRAVEL
The revised Clean Vehicle Directive has boosted the shift to sustainable public transport
OPERATIONAL SHIFT
The transition to electric bus fleets requires collaboration between many stakeholders and a change in system operation
KEY QUOTE
You can buy a bus, but you also need to have chargers, adapt your depot for charging and train the workforce, which has always worked on internal combustion engines and now must work on electric vehicles
When the city of Copenhagen introduced electric buses in its public transport system, the response of bus drivers was overwhelmingly positive. Eighty-two per cent of bus drivers in the city supported electrification, given the sharp reduction in noise and vibration. Forty-two per cent also saw a decline in headaches associated with the job, city figures from 2018 show.
From 2021, Copenhagen and other major Danish municipalities have been procuring only zero-emission buses, in line with an agreement signed in 2020 with Denmark’s ministry of transport. That represented an acceleration of the strategy of Denmark’s capital city, which had previously set a 2025 date for electric-only procurement.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands and its cities have also been at the forefront of electrification efforts in Europe after adapting targets to fully decarbonise its public transport fleet by 2030, with 100% in new zero-emissions vehicles from 2025 onwards. In 2020, over 80% of newly registered buses in the country were zero-emission.
In September 2021, London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, announced that from now on the city would only order zero-emission buses while the entire fleet of over 9000 buses is to be zero-emission by 2034, three years earlier than initially planned. With funding from the national government, that date could be moved up to 2030, he added.
Milan, Italy, already intends to clean up its public transport fleet by 2030, when it aims to have 100% of its 1200 strong bus fleet powered by electricity. Berlin, Germany, is among a growing list of other cities which is also aiming for 100% emission-free public transport that year.
DOUBLE WHAMMY
Alongside active forms of transport like walking and cycling, electrification of public transport is important to help solve the “double whammy” of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, says Barbara Stoll of Clean Cities, a European campaign advocating for zero-emission urban transport.
While public transport is the most efficient means for moving people around urban areas, most buses continue to run on diesel. This represents a “huge problem” in terms of climate change and air pollution, she says. Public transport vehicles are on the road for up to about 16 hours a day compared to just the one hour on average for private cars, Stoll notes.
One potential hurdle to the electrification of public transport is a false perception in some cities that buses powered on compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG), can be considered “clean,” says Stoll. “Some cities are turning to gas buses as if they are on par with real climate solutions, but they are as bad as diesel and in some cases worse.”
A 2020 study by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) examining gas engines used in trucks and buses found that gas, “Is not a suitable measure for climate protection.” It added: “Even in an optimistic scenario, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions of less than 10% are achieved when using fossil gas instead of diesel.” In terms of air pollution, the ICCT found that, “The simplified conventional wisdom that natural gas engines are cleaner than diesel is no longer valid.”
UPTAKE DRIVE
In the European Union, the drive to sustainable public transport has been given a nudge by the revised Clean Vehicle Directive, approved by the European Parliament and European Council in July 2019. The directive sets targets from August 2021 to 2025 and from 2026 to 2030 for low emission vehicles acquired by EU member states through public procurement processes.
For about half of all EU member states—including countries like Denmark, Germany, Italy and Spain—the target for low-emission buses is set at 45% in the first period and 65% in 2026 to 2031. Less well off countries like Bulgaria and Romania have been assigned lower targets. At least 50% of the overall target must be met with zero-emission buses, although cities that have been vocal about their electrification plans have tended to set the bar higher.
Copenhagen and London are among the cities that are also adding fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) powered by hydrogen to their bus line-up, although some 98% of the newly registered zero emission buses in Europe in the last two years were battery electric vehicle (BEVs) and they are expected to continue to play the predominant role going forward.
FCEVs, “Are less energy-efficient and expected to play a moderate role,” states Rico Luman of the research arm of Dutch bank ING in an analysis published in September 2021. ING’s analysts anticipate zero-emissions buses will account for 67% of new bus sales in Europe by 2030, with electric buses increasing eight-fold to about 65,000 units.
SYSTEM CHANGE
Despite positive prospects, switching to electric buses (e-buses) will be far from simple. “The difficulties lie in the fact that you are completely changing the way you operate,” explains Umberto Guido of the International Association of Public Transportation (UITP).
“Now you have to deploy a system. You can buy a bus, but you also need to have chargers, adapt your depot for charging and train the workforce, which has always worked on internal combustion engines and now must work on electric vehicles.”
“A transition to electric buses doesn’t imply just vehicle replacement, but rather setting up a sophisticated ecosystem that—if well designed—provides benefits for a wide range of stakeholders,” says Riccardo Amoroso of Enel X, the advanced energy solutions arm of the Italian utility Enel.
“Running an electric bus fleet is different than running a fossil fuel fleet,” adds Stoll. “It requires much more communication with the different stakeholders and there needs to be a willingness to redesign the system.”
One issue is optimising bus charging processes, which Amoroso says may require substantial electrical works at bus depots. “Every bus requires significant power, typically 150 kilowatts per bus, and a lot of know-how is put into optimising the infrastructure and the time of charging, which typically takes place overnight.”
There may also be potential for e-buses to participate in demand response markets—feeding stored electricity back to the grid on demand—providing a source of income. That grids will increasingly run on renewable energy underpins the entire e-bus strategy for emissions reduction. Cities that lead the way in electrification have a clear strategy for mobility and cleaning up their transport, often starting with the mayor’s office, says Guido.
They can also, “Bring to the table everyone who is involved,” including the energy provider. While bus operators are accustomed to altering operations based on the needs of the bus users, they may now need to consider both passenger demand and the supply of energy, he notes.
FOOT THE BILL
As well as adjusting to a new way of operating, financing is also an issue for the electrification of buses. E-buses come with higher capital expenditures compared to a traditional bus, despite much lower operating and maintenance costs, says Amoroso.
Footing the upfront costs could be more difficult for cities that saw public transport revenues decline as user numbers fell due to Covid-19 lockdowns and “could put some authorities off” from buying e-buses, says Stoll, even though she points out that the total lifetime cost of ownership for an electric bus already reached parity with diesel in 2018.
While campaigners are working to get the level of bus users back to pre-pandemic levels, public funding is often also available to support local transport. Some EU countries have set aside funds in their Recovery and Resilience plans for public transport.
Spain has earmarked €1 billion in grants for urban transport, partially to support the purchase of electric or hydrogen-powered buses and the installation of recharging points. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has provided loans to several cities to support electric bus investments and other public funding sources are also available. Throughout Europe, countries and cities offer tax breaks and grants for e-buses.
Some cities have been using joint procurement to secure e-buses and the related infrastructure at better terms and lower administrative costs. In the Piedmont region of northern Italy the cities of Turin, Alessandria, Cuneo and Asti jointly procured 100 e-buses in 2020 after initially joining forces to secure 19 e-buses for their fleets in 2016.
By collaborating with their neighbours, the cities were able to create an economy of scale and split the savings.
TRANSPORT AS A SERVICE
Cities will also need to tap into private funding as well as into expertise that is available outside of local government companies and agencies. “The important thing is that cities don’t overly rely on internal capabilities and leverage on public-private partnerships, with a private contribution in terms of technical know-how but also in terms of financing,” says Enel X’s Amoroso.
One way to do that is through growing transport as a service models allowing municipal transport companies to pay a monthly fee to cover charging costs or even the whole cost of an e-bus service, rather than footing upfront costs, he notes.
Cities introducing an electric public transport fleet should also consider how it integrates with other means of local transport, including other electromobility options, says Alberto Piglia at Enel X. “More and more mobility is changing from going to place A to place B with a single means of transport to a more intermodal system,” he says.
“When we decide where to put public infrastructure, we have an open dialogue with municipalities based on data, for example looking at where people travelling in cars stop to park,” Piglia explains.
“So if you consider a commuter that uses an electric vehicle and then stops to take an electric bus or metro, these public transport hubs are an obvious place to put charging infrastructure.” Bus shelters may also be integrated with charging infrastructure not only for the bus itself but for electric bikes or other forms of electric micromobility.
ROAD TO SHENZHEN
As cities new to e-buses grapple with their ins-and-outs, China provides one case study on a successful introduction. In Shenzhen, southeastern China, the city fleet of over 16,000 buses has been all-electric since 2017.
Upfront costs at Shenzhen’s three bus companies were significantly lowered through grants from both national and municipal governments covering more than 60% of the procurement cost, making them cheaper than the diesel alternative, while the municipal government also provided subsidies and helped identify land for charging station construction.
A more streamlined decision-making process in China and the fact that BYD, one of China’s biggest e-bus manufacturers, is based in Shenzhen helped to accelerate the rollout of e-buses. BYD provided an eight-year warranty, maintenance support and training for operator staff. But it shows similar programmes are possible elsewhere in the world.
As of the end of 2020, the global fleet of e-buses stood at about 600,000, according to the International Energy Agency, with about 97% of the total in China.
One positive sign for the future is that more countries and cities around the world are planning to expand their e-bus fleets. India has ambitious plans for electrifying the public transportation fleet and Indian credit rating agency ICRA estimates some 8-10% of new bus sales in the country could be electric by 2025.
Prospects for e-buses have also improved in the United States, where President Joe Biden has made electrification of public transport a priority of his climate agenda. “Now it’s a political priority and US manufacturers (of e-buses) have also grown,” notes UITP’s Guido.
Leading the charge in the US is California, which through the Innovative Clean Transit Rule has mandated that 25% of new buses be zero-emissions in 2023, rising to 100% of orders from California transport agencies in 2029.
Meanwhile, South America is one of the major growth markets for e-buses after debuting its first 200 electric buses in Chile’s capital Santiago in 2018. E-buses are also slowly starting to appear on the roads in African cities.
As cities consider the logistics of switching to electric buses and move faster in some places than in others, Guido believes the trend to electrify buses is unstoppable. “We will see how long it takes and how much it costs, but it is no longer a question of if,” he says. •
TEXT Heather O’Brian PHOTO DKart