ZEBRA publication
Analysis of electric bus performance monitoring in Mexico City
Mexico City has set for itself the goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050. Public transport fleets have been identified as a vehicle segment with great potential for successfully transitioning to zero-emission technologies in the short term. Among many actions, the city government has committed that, by 2024, a Metrobús line will be zero emission.
This report analyzes the performance and energy consumption of an electric articulated bus over a 10-month period in Mexico City. Making use of telematics equipment, the daily operation of the bus was monitored to evaluate the operational performance of the vehicle.
The bus met the operating requirements, traveling between 250 km and 325 km for two-thirds of the monitoring period. For 99% of this period, energy consumption per kilometer traveled ranged between 0.86 and 1.0 kWh/km. Similarly, the energy regenerated by the braking system ranged between 21% and 24%, equivalent to approximately 130 kWh per day.
Additionally, energy consumption per kilometer was determined for different load scenarios, which covered and exceeded the load capacity of the bus without incurring any risk, according to the manufacturer’s specifications. According to the analysis, energy consumption of the empty vehicle was 0.92 kWh/km, while at 105% of capacity, consumption was 1.23 kWh/km. This suggests that, during the monitoring period, vehicle occupancy was low, consistent with the confinement period instituted because of the SARS-CoV-2 health emergency. For this reason, it is recommended to use as a reference the consumption levels determined through the controlled load test with, rather than the values recorded during the monitoring period.
Figure. Yutong electric articulated bus model E18-ZK6180BEVG. Photo: Carlos Jiménez.
