Optimizing the selection of sustainable transport technologies at regional bus companies with a spatially explicit approach

Buses account for almost 60% of the total public transport offer in Europe, and most of them are diesel fuelled. Regional transport companies, pressed by governments to introduce zero-emission buses to reduce air pollution, need tools to identify optimal solutions. In literature, few models combine least cost planning and emission assessment for multiple technologies. In this paper, an existing localisation model for electric urban transport is adapted to match the needs of regional transport and to evaluate well-to-wheel carbon emissions as well as TTW airborne emissions of NOx and PM10. The model is applied to a real case study of a regional bus transport company in North Eastern Italy. Electric buses with relatively small (60 kWh) batteries are identified as the best compromise to reduce CO2eq emissions, however, under current economic conditions in Italy, their life cycle cost is still much higher than those of Euro VI diesel.