IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v100y2017icp397-412.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the road to fossil-free public transport: The case of Swedish bus fleets

Author

Listed:
  • Xylia, Maria
  • Silveira, Semida

Abstract

Public transport is important for Sweden to acquire a fossil-fuel independent vehicle fleet by 2030. The aim of this paper is to assess the status of Swedish public bus fleets towards decarbonization, and explore factors affecting regional performance variations and fuel choices. Environmental performance indicators such as renewable fuel shares, CO2 emissions, and energy efficiency are analyzed nationally and regionally. Fuel preferences and best practices are investigated through a survey and interviews with experts working with strategic planning at Public Transport Authorities. Almost 60% of the bus transport volume ran on renewables in 2014 compared to 8% in 2007, but regional variations are significant, partly due to factors such as driving conditions, bus and fuel types, typical trip lengths, and climatic conditions. However, there is no strong correlation between population densities or bus transport volume and the share of renewables achieved. This places political will, strategic planning and policies to promote public transport as key factors affecting renewable fuel deployment. Environmental factors are a priority when choosing fuels, while barriers to renewable fuels are mainly economic and political. Meanwhile, despite the overall progress, achievements in energy efficiency improvement are falling short in comparison to emissions reduction and adoption of renewable fuels, thus requiring further attention.

Suggested Citation

  • Xylia, Maria & Silveira, Semida, 2017. "On the road to fossil-free public transport: The case of Swedish bus fleets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 397-412.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:100:y:2017:i:c:p:397-412
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2016.02.024
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421516300647
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.02.024?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Turcksin, Laurence & Macharis, Cathy & Lebeau, Kenneth & Boureima, Faycal & Van Mierlo, Joeri & Bram, Svend & De Ruyck, Jacques & Mertens, Lara & Jossart, Jean-Marc & Gorissen, Leen & Pelkmans, Luc, 2011. "A multi-actor multi-criteria framework to assess the stakeholder support for different biofuel options: The case of Belgium," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 200-214, January.
    2. Hung, Wing-Tat, 2006. "Taxation on vehicle fuels: its impacts on switching to cleaner fuels," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(16), pages 2566-2571, November.
    3. Wang, Renjie & Wu, Ye & Ke, Wenwei & Zhang, Shaojun & Zhou, Boya & Hao, Jiming, 2015. "Can propulsion and fuel diversity for the bus fleet achieve the win–win strategy of energy conservation and environmental protection?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 92-103.
    4. Xu, Yanzhi & Gbologah, Franklin E. & Lee, Dong-Yeon & Liu, Haobing & Rodgers, Michael O. & Guensler, Randall L., 2015. "Assessment of alternative fuel and powertrain transit bus options using real-world operations data: Life-cycle fuel and emissions modeling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 143-159.
    5. Ou, Xunmin & Zhang, Xiliang & Chang, Shiyan, 2010. "Alternative fuel buses currently in use in China: Life-cycle fossil energy use, GHG emissions and policy recommendations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 406-418, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Junyi & Hayashi, Yoshitsugu & Frank, Lawrence D., 2021. "COVID-19 and transport: Findings from a world-wide expert survey," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 68-85.
    2. Paweł Pistelok & Daniel Štraub, 2021. "Evaluation of the Road Policy in the Light of Vision Zero in Jaworzno, Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-20, August.
    3. Thorne, Rebecca Jayne & Hovi, Inger Beate & Figenbaum, Erik & Pinchasik, Daniel Ruben & Amundsen, Astrid Helene & Hagman, Rolf, 2021. "Facilitating adoption of electric buses through policy: Learnings from a trial in Norway," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    4. Jonas Ammenberg & Sofia Dahlgren, 2021. "Sustainability Assessment of Public Transport, Part I—A Multi-Criteria Assessment Method to Compare Different Bus Technologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-25, January.
    5. Sofia Dahlgren & Jonas Ammenberg, 2021. "Sustainability Assessment of Public Transport, Part II—Applying a Multi-Criteria Assessment Method to Compare Different Bus Technologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-30, January.
    6. Aldenius, Malin, 2018. "Influence of public bus transport organisation on the introduction of renewable fuel," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 106-115.
    7. Avenali, Alessandro & Catalano, Giuseppe & Giagnorio, Mirko & Matteucci, Giorgio, 2024. "Factors influencing the adoption of zero-emission buses: A review-based framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    8. Demeulenaere, Xavier, 2019. "The use of automotive fleets to support the diffusion of Alternative Fuel Vehicles: A Rapid Evidence Assessment of barriers and decision mechanisms," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    9. Pei Huang & Xingxing Zhang & Benedetta Copertaro & Puneet Kumar Saini & Da Yan & Yi Wu & Xiangjie Chen, 2020. "A Technical Review of Modeling Techniques for Urban Solar Mobility: Solar to Buildings, Vehicles, and Storage (S2BVS)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-37, August.
    10. Huang, Pei & Lovati, Marco & Zhang, Xingxing & Bales, Chris, 2020. "A coordinated control to improve performance for a building cluster with energy storage, electric vehicles, and energy sharing considered," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    11. Amelia Mutter, 2019. "Obduracy and Change in Urban Transport—Understanding Competition Between Sustainable Fuels in Swedish Municipalities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-16, November.
    12. Sofia Dahlgren & Jonas Ammenberg, 2022. "Environmental Considerations Regarding Freight Transport among Buyers of Transport Services in Sweden," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-19, September.
    13. Giagnorio, Mirko & Börjesson, Maria & D'Alfonso, Tiziana, 2024. "Introducing electric buses in urban areas: Effects on welfare, pricing, frequency, and public subsidies," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    14. Jian Gong & Jie He & Cheng Cheng & Mark King & Xintong Yan & Zhixia He & Hao Zhang, 2020. "Road Test-Based Electric Bus Selection: A Case Study of the Nanjing Bus Company," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-12, March.
    15. Xylia, Maria & Silveira, Semida, 2018. "The role of charging technologies in upscaling the use of electric buses in public transport: Experiences from demonstration projects," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 399-415.
    16. Magnusson, Thomas & Berggren, Christian, 2018. "Competing innovation systems and the need for redeployment in sustainability transitions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 217-230.

    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. Harris, Andrew & Soban, Danielle & Smyth, Beatrice M. & Best, Robert, 2018. "Assessing life cycle impacts and the risk and uncertainty of alternative bus technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 569-579.
    2. Harris, Andrew & Soban, Danielle & Smyth, Beatrice M. & Best, Robert, 2020. "A probabilistic fleet analysis for energy consumption, life cycle cost and greenhouse gas emissions modelling of bus technologies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    3. Song, Hongqing & Ou, Xunmin & Yuan, Jiehui & Yu, Mingxu & Wang, Cheng, 2017. "Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of diesel/LNG heavy-duty vehicle fleets in China based on a bottom-up model analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P1), pages 966-978.
    4. Liyan Feng & Jun Zhai & Lei Chen & Wuqiang Long & Jiangping Tian & Bin Tang, 2017. "Increasing the application of gas engines to decrease China’s GHG emissions," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 839-861, August.
    5. He, X. & Wang, F. & Wallington, T.J. & Shen, W. & Melaina, M.W. & Kim, H.C. & De Kleine, R. & Lin, T. & Zhang, S. & Keoleian, G.A. & Lu, X. & Wu, Y., 2021. "Well-to-wheels emissions, costs, and feedstock potentials for light-duty hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China in 2017 and 2030," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    6. Rupp, Matthias & Handschuh, Nils & Rieke, Christian & Kuperjans, Isabel, 2019. "Contribution of country-specific electricity mix and charging time to environmental impact of battery electric vehicles: A case study of electric buses in Germany," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C), pages 618-634.
    7. Khan, Muhammad Imran & Shahrestani, Mehdi & Hayat, Tasawar & Shakoor, Abdul & Vahdati, Maria, 2019. "Life cycle (well-to-wheel) energy and environmental assessment of natural gas as transportation fuel in Pakistan," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C), pages 1738-1752.
    8. Renjie Wang & Yuanyuan Song & Honglei Xu & Yue Li & Jie Liu, 2022. "Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Consumption and CO 2 Emission from HEV, PHEV and BEV for China in the Past, Present and Future," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-16, September.
    9. Sehatpour, Mohammad-Hadi & Kazemi, Aliyeh & Sehatpour, Hesam-eddin, 2017. "Evaluation of alternative fuels for light-duty vehicles in Iran using a multi-criteria approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 295-310.
    10. Alberto Romero-Ania & Lourdes Rivero Gutiérrez & María Auxiliadora De Vicente Oliva, 2021. "Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis of Sustainable Urban Public Transport Systems," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(16), pages 1-30, August.
    11. García, Antonio & Monsalve-Serrano, Javier & Lago Sari, Rafael & Tripathi, Shashwat, 2022. "Life cycle CO₂ footprint reduction comparison of hybrid and electric buses for bus transit networks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    12. Rogge, Matthias & van der Hurk, Evelien & Larsen, Allan & Sauer, Dirk Uwe, 2018. "Electric bus fleet size and mix problem with optimization of charging infrastructure," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 282-295.
    13. Naihui Wang & Yulong Pei & Yi-Jia Wang, 2022. "Antecedents in Determining Users’ Acceptance of Electric Shuttle Bus Services," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(16), pages 1-19, August.
    14. Xinkuo Xu & Liyan Han, 2020. "Operational Lifecycle Carbon Value of Bus Electrification in Macau," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, May.
    15. Yali Zheng & Xiaoyi He & Hewu Wang & Michael Wang & Shaojun Zhang & Dong Ma & Binggang Wang & Ye Wu, 2020. "Well-to-wheels greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions from battery electric vehicles in China," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 355-370, March.
    16. Tolga Ercan & Mehdi Noori & Yang Zhao & Omer Tatari, 2016. "On the Front Lines of a Sustainable Transportation Fleet: Applications of Vehicle-to-Grid Technology for Transit and School Buses," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-22, March.
    17. Ren, Lei & Zhou, Sheng & Ou, Xunmin, 2020. "Life-cycle energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions of hydrogen supply chains for fuel-cell vehicles in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    18. Mahmoud, Moataz & Garnett, Ryan & Ferguson, Mark & Kanaroglou, Pavlos, 2016. "Electric buses: A review of alternative powertrains," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 673-684.
    19. Ma, Xiaolei & Miao, Ran & Wu, Xinkai & Liu, Xianglong, 2021. "Examining influential factors on the energy consumption of electric and diesel buses: A data-driven analysis of large-scale public transit network in Beijing," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    20. Klaus Kivekäs & Antti Lajunen & Jari Vepsäläinen & Kari Tammi, 2018. "City Bus Powertrain Comparison: Driving Cycle Variation and Passenger Load Sensitivity Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-26, July.

    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:eee:enepol:v:100:y:2017:i:c:p:397-412. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    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.