IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jcltec/v6y2024i4p79-1652d1542640.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Harvesting Renewable Energy to Supply Power for Electric Buses

Author

Listed:
  • Shwan Hussein Awla

    (School of Engineering, London South Bank University, 103 Borough Rd, London SE1 0AA, UK)

  • Simon P. Philbin

    (School of Engineering, Kingston University London, London SW15 3DW, UK)

Abstract

This research study addresses the challenges of extended charging times and limited ranges in electric vehicles by conducting a techno-economic analysis of integrating renewable energy technologies—solar modules, wind turbines, and piezoelectric materials—into double-decker electric buses in London, UK. Consequently, the empirical study evaluates the power output of renewable energy technologies through simulation modelling based on vehicle specifications and energy requirements, which is followed by numerical modelling to assess economic viability. Furthermore, CFD (computational fluid dynamics) modelling is undertaken to examine the performance levels of vehicular-mounted wind turbines. The solar modules are placed on the rooftop and sides of the bus, generating 15.9 kWh/day, and the wind turbine in the front bumper of the bus generates 8.3 kWh/day. However, the piezoelectric material generated only 22.6 Wh/day, thereby rendering this technology impractical for further analysis. Therefore, both the solar modules and wind turbines combined generate 24.2 kWh/day, which can increase the driving range by 16.3 km per day, resulting in savings of 19.36 min for charging at the stations. Investing in such projects would have a positive return as the internal rate of return (IRR) and net present value (NPV) are 2.8% and £11,175, respectively. The annual revenue would be £6712, and the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction would be two metric tons annually. Electricity generation, the electricity generation rate, and the initial investment are identified as key factors influencing power outages in a sensitivity analysis. In conclusion, this numerical modelling study paves the way for experimental validation toward the implementation of renewable energy technologies on electric bus fleets.

Suggested Citation

  • Shwan Hussein Awla & Simon P. Philbin, 2024. "Harvesting Renewable Energy to Supply Power for Electric Buses," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-28, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jcltec:v:6:y:2024:i:4:p:79-1652:d:1542640
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/6/4/79/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/6/4/79/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jung, Inki & Shin, Youn-Hwan & Kim, Sangtae & Choi, Ji-young & Kang, Chong-Yun, 2017. "Flexible piezoelectric polymer-based energy harvesting system for roadway applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 222-229.
    2. Khalili, Mohamadreza & Biten, Ayetullah B. & Vishwakarma, Gopal & Ahmed, Sara & Papagiannakis, A.T., 2019. "Electro-mechanical characterization of a piezoelectric energy harvester," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Nick Rigogiannis & Ioannis Bogatsis & Christos Pechlivanis & Anastasios Kyritsis & Nick Papanikolaou, 2023. "Moving towards Greener Road Transportation: A Review," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-25, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ledia Shehu & Jung Heum Yeon & Yooseob Song, 2024. "Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting for Civil Engineering Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-34, October.
    2. Chen, Cheng & Sharafi, Amir & Sun, Jian-Qiao, 2020. "A high density piezoelectric energy harvesting device from highway traffic – Design analysis and laboratory validation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    3. Khazaee, Majid & Huber, John E. & Rosendahl, Lasse & Rezania, Alireza, 2021. "The investigation of viscous and structural damping for piezoelectric energy harvesters using only time-domain voltage measurements," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    4. Zhao, Dong & Liu, Ying, 2020. "A prototype for light-electric harvester based on light sensitive liquid crystal elastomer cantilever," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    5. Bogdan Dziadak & Mariusz Kucharek & Jacek Starzyński, 2022. "Powering the WSN Node for Monitoring Rail Car Parameters, Using a Piezoelectric Energy Harvester," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-18, February.
    6. Hafize Nurgul Durmus Senyapar & Ramazan Bayindir, 2023. "The Research Agenda on Smart Grids: Foresights for Social Acceptance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-31, September.
    7. Niloufar Zabihi & Mohamed Saafi, 2020. "Recent Developments in the Energy Harvesting Systems from Road Infrastructures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-27, August.
    8. Wang, Chaohui & Liu, Jikang & Yuan, Huazhi & Wang, Shuai & Jia, Xiaodong & Lu, Qiang, 2024. "Design and on-site alert effect of piezoelectric device with amplified displacement for improving clean-energy collection," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    9. Wang, Hao & Jasim, Abbas & Chen, Xiaodan, 2018. "Energy harvesting technologies in roadway and bridge for different applications – A comprehensive review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1083-1094.
    10. Yuan, Huazhi & Wang, Shuai & Wang, Chaohui & Song, Zhi & Li, Yanwei, 2022. "Design of piezoelectric device compatible with pavement considering traffic: Simulation, laboratory and on-site," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PB).
    11. Eghbali, Pejman & Younesian, Davood & Farhangdoust, Saman, 2020. "Enhancement of the low-frequency acoustic energy harvesting with auxetic resonators," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    12. Aldawood, Ghufran & Nguyen, Hieu Tri & Bardaweel, Hamzeh, 2019. "High power density spring-assisted nonlinear electromagnetic vibration energy harvester for low base-accelerations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Song, Gyeong Ju & Kim, Kyung-Bum & Cho, Jae Yong & Woo, Min Sik & Ahn, Jung Hwan & Eom, Jong Hyuk & Ko, Sung Min & Yang, Chan Ho & Hong, Seong Do & Jeong, Se Yeong & Hwang, Won Seop & Woo, Sang Bum & , 2019. "Performance of a speed bump piezoelectric energy harvester for an automatic cellphone charging system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 221-227.
    14. Wang, Shuai & Wang, Chaohui & Yuan, Huazhi & Ji, Xiaoping & Yu, Gongxin & Jia, Xiaodong, 2023. "Size effect of piezoelectric energy harvester for road with high efficiency electrical properties," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 330(PB).
    15. Chen, Cheng & Xu, Tian-Bing & Yazdani, Atousa & Sun, Jian-Qiao, 2021. "A high density piezoelectric energy harvesting device from highway traffic — System design and road test," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    16. Peng, Yan & Xu, Zhibing & Wang, Min & Li, Zhongjie & Peng, Jinlin & Luo, Jun & Xie, Shaorong & Pu, Huayan & Yang, Zhengbao, 2021. "Investigation of frequency-up conversion effect on the performance improvement of stack-based piezoelectric generators," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 551-563.
    17. Yuchen Wang & Adeela Gulzari & Victor Prybutok, 2023. "Individual Characteristics as Motivators of Sustainable Behavior in Electronic Vehicle Rental," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-14, December.
    18. Diogo Correia & Adelino Ferreira, 2021. "Energy Harvesting on Airport Pavements: State-of-the-Art," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-20, May.
    19. Xue, Weijiang & Chen, Tianwu & Ren, Zhichu & Kim, So Yeon & Chen, Yuming & Zhang, Pengcheng & Zhang, Sulin & Li, Ju, 2020. "Molar-volume asymmetry enabled low-frequency mechanical energy harvesting in electrochemical cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    20. Xie, Xiangdong & Wang, Zijing & Zhang, Jiankun & Zhao, Yan & Du, Guofeng & Luo, Mingzhang & Lei, Ming, 2022. "A study on a novel piezoelectric bricks made of double-storey piezoelectric coupled beams," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jcltec:v:6:y:2024:i:4:p:79-1652:d:1542640. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.