Fuel economy predictions for hybrid buses on Long Beach City transit bus routes

This study investigates the potential fuel savings from using hybrid powered buses on Long Beach City bus routes. A general overview of hybrid vehicles is presented as well as a presentation of the vehicle dynamics theory used to analyze vehicles. Different hybrid bus configurations are investigated and the benefits and shortcomings of these different configurations are discussed. A vehicle simulation program named ADVISOR is used for the analysis, and a review of this program as well as a verification run is presented. Simulations of both conventional diesel buses and hybrid buses are performed for three different bus routes, and these results are then compared to derive the potential fuel savings of the hybrid buses. The results show that fuel economy is dependent on the hybrid bus configuration as well as the bus route, with a peak fuel economy improvement of 79%.