Chen, J., Atasoy, B., Robenek, T., Bierlaire, M., and Thémans, M. (2013)

Planning of feeding station installment for electric urban public mass-transportation system

13th Swiss Transportation Research Conference, Ascona, Switzerland

During the last few decades, environmental impact of the fossil fuel-based transportation infrastructure has led to renewed interest in electric transportation infrastructure, especially in urban public mass-transportation sector. Generally, electric buses have several beneficial features compared with their petroleum-based counterparts, e.g., higher energy efficiency, no release of air pollutants, and less noise pollution. However, in the traditional implementation of electric bus transportation system, catenary wires are usually the undesired byproduct which is the one of the primary causes of visual pollution in urban cities. In this paper, we will introduce a revolutionary "catenary-free" and high-capacity electric bus transportation system proposed by the demonstrator TOSA (TPG-OPI-SIG-ABB) that will run between Palexo and Geneva Airport in Switzerland. One of the main challenges in the project is to bring up a cost optimal feeding stations installation plan for the citywide bus transportation network. The complexity of the problem comes from the simultaneous consideration of the decisions such as the power capacity for the batteries in the buses, the locations and types of feeding stations, the feasible power of chargers, and whether to include additional electric storage devices for feeding stations or not, etc. To solve the problem, we develop a mixed integer linear programming mathematical model (called myTOSA) and test it through a preliminary study where only a depot and a bus line are included. Important insights from the test case will be drawn and we will also describe how to extend the model for future studies.