Setting Up and Operating Electric City Buses in Harsh Winter Conditions

The city of Tampere in Finland aims to be carbon-neutral in 2030 and wanted to find out how the electrification of public transport would help achieve the climate goal. Research has covered topics related to electric buses, ranging from battery technologies to lifecycle assessment and cost analysis. However, less is known about electric city buses’ performance in cold climatic zones. This study collected and analysed weather and electric city bus data to understand the effects of temperature and weather conditions on the electric buses’ efficiency. Data were collected from four battery-electric buses and one hybrid bus as a reference. The buses were fast-charged at the market and slow-charged at the depot. The test route ran downtown. The study finds that the average energy consumption of the buses during winter was 40–45% higher than in summer (kWh/km). The effect of cabin cooling is minor compared to the cabin heating energy needs. The study also finds that infrastructure needs to have enough safety margins in case of faults and additional energy consumption in harsh weather conditions. In addition, appropriate training for operators, maintenance and other personnel is needed to avoid disturbances caused by charging and excessive energy consumption by driving style.