Public Transit Fleet and Energy Transition: A Road Towards Net-Zero

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In this Alliance Missions project, we partner with TransLink, BC Hydro, and the Vancouver Economic Commission (VEC) to develop novel and unique datasets and models that will inform transportation sector GHG emission reduction strategies in the context of new propulsion technologies integration in public transit fleets. The $24M Hydrogen Hub on UBC Vancouver campus is a comprehensive testbed research platform for the integration, testing, and deployment of smart and renewable energy technologies for clean, connected, and safe transportation. This project will develop a Digital Twin of the testbed and expand it to an integrated platform that will simulate transportation routes, processes, operations, and related energy requirements for the public transit fleet to and from the UBC campus. This will allow the development of modeled scenarios for estimating potential GHG emission reductions vis-à-vis possible fuel switching approaches (e.g., battery, fuel cells) across the TransLink fleet. With crucial data provided in-kind by our partners on bus fleet routes to/from UBC (e.g. energy consumption, ridership, GHG emission inventories, operational and scheduling - TransLink) and on electrical grid features (e.g. feeders layout and loadings, transformer size/location - BC Hydro), we will develop machine learning (ML)-based scenarios quantifying anticipated fleet-scale GHG emission reductions in the event of increased EV/FC bus adoption. We will also map power requirements and anticipated constraints across the electric/transportation grids needed to sustain increased uptake of EV/FC buses. In parallel we will estimate costs associated with different scenarios, and investigate equitable mechanisms to minimize impact on end users through a socioeconomic analysis of the processes modeled on the Digital Twin. We anticipate that this study will result in the production of software, models and scenarios that will assist our partners in assessing the most effective pathways to decarbonize bus fleets, anticipate future infrastructural needs, and enable decision-making based on approaches that ensure equity and affordability for communities and end-users.