Optimal battery electric bus system planning considering heterogeneous vehicles, opportunity charging, and battery degradation

Battery electric buses (BEBs) have been seen as a viable alternative for sustainable mobility. The charger placement and fleet configuration play a crucial role in the operational efficiency of BEBs. In this study, a joint optimization model is developed to strategically plan the charger placement and fleet configuration for a BEB system. Distinct from existing research, we simultaneously incorporate opportunity charging, heterogeneous vehicles, and battery degradation to integratively minimize the costs of charger installation, BEB purchase, energy consumption, and battery degradation. Based on a model reformulation, a heuristic-exact hybrid solution method is customized to solve the model. A real-world case study from Oslo, Norway is provided to demonstrate the optimization model and solution method. The results indicate that the proposed model can reduce the total costs by 21.27 % in comparison to the conventional model. Sensitivity analyses are further conducted to provide insightful findings and managerial implications for BEB systems.