Reliability Study of Electric Buses in the Urban Public Transport System

Contemporary research on electric buses focuses mainly on the following issues: energy efficiency, range and transport costs, and traction battery technology. However, little research has been conducted on operational reliability. This article presents a comparative assessment of the reliability of electric buses in relation to combustion engine buses. The research was conducted under real conditions in the city of Lublin, Poland. The reliability functions of buses and their structural components were determined based on the Weibull distribution. It was shown that electric buses have a shorter distance between failures than combustion engine buses of analogous capacity. The statistical significance of the differences in reliability between electric and combustion engine buses was verified. The suitability of the Weibull model as a model of bus reliability in comparative studies was verified. The results of the research can be used to monitor current sustainable public transport development programs and to improve bus diagnostic and maintenance systems in transport companies.