Avaliação da viabilidade económica na substituição da frota de veículos de combustão interna por eléctricos de um Município

Abstract

Environmental and economic concerns have led the public decision-makers to push alternatives for urban and public transportation. Today, besides other options, battery-powered electric buses are being considered. This technology contributes to sustainability mainly regarding the reduction of pollutant emissions. The electrical vehicle is one of the strategies with greater potential to increase the efficiency of vehicle propulsion systems, reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the transportation sector. This sector is itself responsible for around 25% of CO2 emissions in the world. To effectively evaluate the potential benefits of implementing an electric bus-based public transport solution, it is necessary to evaluate and assess its performance in operation. This work presents a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of an electric city bus. The case study was about the economic analysis based on energy consumption and vehicle-kilometres. Overall, the study results showed that electric city buses have a good potential for reducing energy consumption and emissions. However, at the moment, the capital costs of city buses and charging times are still the most critical factors in improving the cost-effectiveness of this alternative city bus configuration. The results will present how cost-effectiveness could be reached with such strategy and intends to be a document useful for decision making on investment.