Summary and Evaluation of New Jersey Transit Bus Electrification Efforts

Abstract

In recognition of the climate crisis, companies and governments worldwide are implementing strategies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Electrification is a crucial strategy for decarbonizing the transportation sector. The transportation sector contributes 29% of the total US GHG emissions, and for New Jersey, this percentage is 42%. New Jersey has aggressive GHG reduction plans that include NJ Transit’s fleet electrification. These plans outlay specific strategies for achieving carbon-neutral electricity generation, GHG emissions reduction, and an equally accessible community. This report is based on the work done with NJ Transit in Summer 2021. The author of this report was assigned the following tasks: 1. Provide summaries of related GHG emissions reduction plans and laws and their evaluation to identify potential data gaps. 2. Highlight available charging infrastructure and their respective pros and cons. 3. Develop a tool to identify the best routes to deploy Battery Electric Buses (BEBs) during their pilot launch. This report is also divided into three sections based on the tasks above. The first section offers summaries of these plans and their evaluation based on relevant knowledge and research data. What follows are the particular recommendations: • Bus electrification is an effective strategy to curb GHG emissions arising from NJ’s bus fleet running on diesel fuel. • Battery-electric buses (BEBs) have reduced mileage and high cost than conventional diesel buses. • NJT needs to consider alternate options to reduce GHG emissions until BEBs replace all the existing diesel buses by 2040. • NJ Transit might want to invest in renewable energy infrastructure such as rooftop solar panels for garages and charging BEBs. • NJ Transit may start transitioning towards BEBs by purchasing biodiesel buses or/and hybrid diesel buses as an interim strategy. Blending biodiesel up to a certain percentage (as high as 20%) in some cases is possible without requiring any engine modification. Appropriate arrangements for procuring biodiesel shall be required. • Hybrid diesel buses also have higher mileage and lower GHG emissions than purely diesel buses, which can be a steppingstone toward BEBs. These buses do not require the installation of any unique infrastructure, like chargers for BEBs and biodiesel fuel pumps for biodiesel buses. The report’s second section briefs NJ Transit about the existing charging infrastructure for the battery-electric buses and various available options, such as on-route charging and depot charging. It briefly describes the overview, applications, and drawbacks of each kind of BEB refueling method. Fast pantograph chargers serve the best for very frequent routes that run on iii small distances. Whereas, for longer routes with large layovers during their trips, level 2 depot charging serves the best purpose. The last section of the report focuses on the excel tool developed for route analysis of the Newton bus garage. This tool provides duty cycles’ summary and sensitivity analysis of fuel economy for summer and winter weather. The tool also lists the specific routes which may or may not be able to complete their trip if replaced by BEB of a particular battery capacity. It also lists the routes that can repeat the same trip without charging in between.