Optimal recharging scheduling for urban electric buses: A case study in Davis Yusheng Wang a,b , Yongxi Huang b,1 , Jiuping Xu a,⇑ , Nicole Barclay c a Uncertainty Decision-Making Laboratory, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, PR China b Glenn Department of Civil Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA c Department of Engineering Technology and Construction Management, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA article info Article history: Received 18 August 2016 Received in revised form 1 January 2017 Accepted 3 January 2017 Available online 1 March 2017 Keywords: Public transit network Electric bus Fast charging Recharging scheduling abstract In this paper, a modeling framework to optimize electric bus recharging schedules is devel- oped, which determines both the planning and operational decisions while minimizing total annual costs. The model is demonstrated using a real-world transit network based in Davis, California. The results showed that range anxiety can be eliminated by adopting certain recharging strategies. Sensitivity analyses revealed that the model could provide transit agencies with comprehensive guidance on the utilization of electric buses and development of a fast charging system. The comparative analyses showed that it was more economical and environmentally friendly to utilize electric buses than diesel buses. Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In most metropolitan areas, public transit buses are often considered to be a ‘‘greener” alternative to private vehicles because of their potential to reduce per passenger greenhouse gas emissions (Eudy et al., 2014; Mahmoud et al., 2016). How- ever, depending on operations, technology, age and fuel type, public transit buses can cause as much per passenger pollution as private vehicles (Alam and Hatzopoulou, 2014). According to Neff and Dickens (2016) diesel buses still accounted for about 51% of the U.S. transit bus fleet in 2015. Despite the development of increasingly stringent emissions standards, diesel buses remain a serious air pollution concern in many urban areas (Miles and Potter, 2014; Wang and Rakha, 2016). Electric buses, in contrast, have many advantages, such as low or no environmental emissions, energy conservation and quiet operations, making them an ideal technology for urban areas (Jerram and Gartner, 2012; Lajunen and Lipman, 2016). Further, electric power is particularly well suited to transit buses which operate at low speeds and have frequent stops. In the prototype development phase, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claimed that using electric buses could see a potential fuel consumption decrease of as much as 50% (Davis et al., 2016). As public transport networks have fixed routes and schedules, it is much easier to plan routes for electric buses and install charging stations where they are needed (Sebastiani et al., 2016). Over the past 20 years, the light-duty private vehicle and light truck market has led in the adoption of hybrid and battery electric technology and within the medium to heavy duty category, electric buses have also been grow- ing in popularity (Daina et al., 2017). For instance, in the United States, the share of electric buses in the transit bus market increased rapidly from 2% in 2007 to nearly 20% in 2015 (Neff and Dickens, 2016). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2017.01.001 1366-5545/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: xujiuping@scu.edu.cn (J. Xu). 1 Present address: Research Scientist, Amazon, 345 N Boren Ave, Seattle, WA 98109, USA. Transportation Research Part E 100 (2017) 115–132 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Transportation Research Part E journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tre