Center for Transportation, Research, and Education, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50010-8664, USA.
J Air Waste Manag Assoc. 2011 May;61(5):504-10. doi: 10.3155/1047-3289.61.5.504.
Although it is much safer and more fuel-efficient to transport children to school in buses than in private vehicles, school buses in the United States still consume 822 million gal of diesel fuel annually, and school transportation costs can account for a significant portion of resource-constrained school district budgets. Additionally, children in diesel-powered school buses may be exposed to higher levels of particulates and other pollutants than children in cars. One solution to emission and fuel concerns is use of hybrid-electric school buses, which have the potential to reduce emissions and overall lifecycle costs compared with conventional diesel buses. Hybrid-electric technologies are available in the passenger vehicle market as well as the transit bus market and have a track record indicating fuel economy and emissions benefits. This paper summarizes the results of an in-use fuel economy evaluation for two plug-in hybrid school buses deployed in two different school districts in Iowa. Each school district selected a control bus with a route similar to that of the hybrid bus. Odometer readings, fuel consumption, and maintenance needs were recorded for each bus. The buses were deployed in 2008 and data were collected through May 2010. Fuel consumption was calculated for each school district. In Nevada, IA, the overall average fuel economy was 8.23 mpg for the hybrid and 6.35 mpg for the control bus. In Sigourney, IA, the overall average fuel economy was 8.94 mpg for the hybrid and 6.42 mpg for the control bus. The fuel consumption data were compared for the hybrid and control buses using a Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results indicate that fuel economy for the Nevada hybrid bus was 29.6% better than for the Nevada control bus, and fuel economy for the Sigourney hybrid bus was 39.2% higher than for the Sigourney control bus. Both differences were statistically significant.
尽管与私家车相比，用校车接送孩子上学更安全、更省油，但美国的校车每年仍消耗 8.22 亿加仑柴油，而校车运输成本可能占资源有限的学区预算的很大一部分。此外，与乘坐私家车的孩子相比，乘坐柴油动力校车的孩子可能会接触到更高水平的颗粒物和其他污染物。解决排放和燃料问题的一个办法是使用混合动力电动校车，与传统的柴油巴士相比，它有潜力减少排放和整体生命周期成本。混合动力电动技术在乘用车市场以及公交车市场都有应用，并有记录表明其具有燃油经济性和减排效益。本文总结了在爱荷华州两个不同学区部署的两辆插电式混合动力校车的实际燃油经济性评估结果。每个学区都选择了一辆与混合动力校车路线相似的普通巴士作为对照车。记录了每辆巴士的里程表读数、油耗和维修需求。这些巴士于 2008 年投入使用，数据收集截至 2010 年 5 月。为每个学区计算了油耗。在内华达州，混合动力车的整体平均燃油经济性为 8.23 英里/加仑，普通巴士为 6.35 英里/加仑。在西格诺伊，混合动力车的整体平均燃油经济性为 8.94 英里/加仑，普通巴士为 6.42 英里/加仑。使用 Wilcoxon 符号秩检验对混合动力车和普通巴士的油耗数据进行了比较。结果表明，内华达州混合动力车的燃油经济性比内华达州普通巴士提高了 29.6%，而西格诺伊混合动力车的燃油经济性比西格诺伊普通巴士提高了 39.2%。这两个差异均具有统计学意义。
