Economic evaluation of urban electric bus charge stations: case of Eindhoven, the Netherlands

Global warming effects with heavy storms and hot days make countries take emissions seriously. Hence, European cities gradually announce zero emission projects in the public transportation sector. Transportation using battery electric buses plays important role in zero emission projects. In the Netherlands, government targets zero emission for city buses in public transportation by 2030. This obviously means replacing the fossil fueled buses with electric buses. However, the problem that arises with electric buses is the infrastructure of battery management and battery charging. This research aims to optimize electric bus recharging processes considering minimum total annual cost. A mixed integer linear optimization model was developed to determine location, capacity of charge stations and recharging duration for the buses. In addition, the positive effect of social emissions costs because of the zero emission buses were considered. The optimization model was tested on eight city bus lines in town center of Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The results provide economic analysis for different locations of the charge stations and different recharging durations for fast charge operations.