Abstract:

The rapid rate of urbanization and economic growth has been a prime mover for the increase in vehicular traffic on roads. A recent study shows that from 2015 to 2018, the vehicular traffic in Indian cities has increased at a rate of 9%. Catering to the growing demand for urban mobility and emphasis on reducing air pollution in towns and cities are mutually conflicting objectives. One solution is a paradigm shift of the transportation policies from personal vehicles to public transportation system using electric buses. Using electric bus fleets for public transportation is not straightforward in Indian cities for two reasons, viz., weak electricity grid and predominantly coal‐based power generation. This work presents emission analysis of E-bus based TS with different energy generation scenarios given by the planning bodies. In this work, a novel transportation system, that uses solar PV generation and large capacity batteries, is analyzed for its impact on air pollution and environmental sustainability. A detailed well to wheel analysis of the system, for various power generation scenarios, is presented and also compared with the existing ones. The analysis done in this work answers the question: “Can the electric bus‐based public transportation contribute towards emission reduction in transportation?” The results also elaborate that to reach the target under the Paris Protocol, India has to take drastic majors like phasing out of coal by 2030. To achieve the overall goals of lower emission, it is mandatory to implement E-bus TS and phase out generation from coal power plants. Hence, this work proposes a generation mix, which has a contribution from fossil fuel to be 20% only, and 65% from RES, which is challenging for the planning bodies of India.