A Simulation Study of Fuel Economy Improvement Potentials of a Transit Bus

The AMESim model of motor vehicle driving simulation has been applied on a transit bus to investigate the potentials for fuel economy improvement. With the purpose to calibrate the simulation model and to evaluate the real driving cycle, a data acquisition using vehicle CAN bus has been performed on a transit bus in real driving conditions. This was the basis for constructing a high-fidelity AMESim simulation model of the vehicle for subsequent hybrid systems simulations. It was observed that a great fraction of the total fuel mass was consumed when the bus was stationary. Initial simulation study shows that fuel consumption reduction in excess of 12% could be achieved by implementing a relatively simple start/stop micro-hybrid system. Also, braking energy reaches cca. 60% of the energy released by the engine, representing a potential basis for the application of regenerative braking hybrid system