Optimal Deployment of Dynamic Wireless Charging Facilities for an Electric Bus System

Diesel engine buses still make up the majority of the bus fleet in the United States, even with the problem of diesel exhaust and greenhouse gas emissions. Electric buses, which generate no emissions, are a promising green alternative for bus fleets. However, electric buses have a limited travel range and a time-consuming recharging process. Dynamic wireless charging, which allows electric buses to charge while traveling, could alleviate the drawbacks of electric buses. With dynamic wireless charging technology, electric buses can operate with smaller batteries, and the stationary recharging time at the base station can be shortened. The key design variables in deploying dynamic wireless charging facilities for an electric bus system are battery size and the location of the wireless charging facilities. This paper addresses the problem of simultaneously selecting the optimal locations for the wireless charging facilities and designing the battery size for an electric bus system. A mixed integer linear program was developed to minimize the total implementation cost. The model was demonstrated with a real-world bus system. The results demonstrate that the proposed model can solve the optimal deployment problem of dynamic wireless charging facilities for an electric bus system.