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Analysing the implications of electrification of public transport buses in Pune city, India


Affiliations
1 School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai 400 088, India
2 School of Natural Sciences and Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru 560 012, India
 

The urban road transport sector in India currently faces the challenge of increased travel demand, increased use of private vehicles, traffic congestion as well as alarming levels of air pollution. The consequent public health problems, energy insecurity resulting from oil imports and pressure to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the sector have also emerged as serious challenges for the country. Many cities in the world are considering electric buses for public transport as one of the potential solutions to address these issues. This article analyses the feasibility of introducing electric buses in the public transport fleet by estimating the financial burden that such a shift may entail, and the corresponding emissions it would mitigate. It also provides a methodology and illustrates the same for a city in India. The results indicate that while electric buses may not be financially viable at present and require state support and subsidies for operation, careful planning and phased implementation would make them a promising option for the future. The cost analysis indicates that for the immediate future, the replacement of air-conditioned diesel buses with similar electric buses in the fleet makes better economic sense. However, it is necessary to determine how the increased cost of using electric buses is to be distributed across the population of the city to avoid disproportionately burdening one section, i.e. bus commuters, with the cost of cleaning up the city’s air.

Keywords

Air pollution, electric vehicles, greenhouse gas emissions, public transport, urban roads.
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  • Analysing the implications of electrification of public transport buses in Pune city, India

Abstract Views: 376  |  PDF Views: 144

Authors

Suvedh Jaywant
School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai 400 088, India
Tejal Kanitkar
School of Natural Sciences and Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru 560 012, India

Abstract


The urban road transport sector in India currently faces the challenge of increased travel demand, increased use of private vehicles, traffic congestion as well as alarming levels of air pollution. The consequent public health problems, energy insecurity resulting from oil imports and pressure to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the sector have also emerged as serious challenges for the country. Many cities in the world are considering electric buses for public transport as one of the potential solutions to address these issues. This article analyses the feasibility of introducing electric buses in the public transport fleet by estimating the financial burden that such a shift may entail, and the corresponding emissions it would mitigate. It also provides a methodology and illustrates the same for a city in India. The results indicate that while electric buses may not be financially viable at present and require state support and subsidies for operation, careful planning and phased implementation would make them a promising option for the future. The cost analysis indicates that for the immediate future, the replacement of air-conditioned diesel buses with similar electric buses in the fleet makes better economic sense. However, it is necessary to determine how the increased cost of using electric buses is to be distributed across the population of the city to avoid disproportionately burdening one section, i.e. bus commuters, with the cost of cleaning up the city’s air.

Keywords


Air pollution, electric vehicles, greenhouse gas emissions, public transport, urban roads.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv122%2Fi5%2F557-568