European Bus Rapid Transit of 2030: electrified, automated, connected

Project Information

EBRT2030

Grant agreement ID: 101095882

DOI

10.3030/101095882

EC signature date 19 December 2022

Start date 1 January 2023

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

€ 30 351 916,71

EU contribution

€ 22 776 213,57

Coordinated by

UNION INTERNATIONALE DES TRANSPORTS PUBLICS
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EBRT2030 (European Bus Rapid Transit of 2030: electrified, automated, connected)

Reporting period: 2024-07-01 to 2025-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Currently, road and transport emissions have a significant impact in polluting cities and as such, green, clean and smart mobility efforts are required to achieve the objectives set by the EC. Public transportation is at the core of efforts for achieving sustainable mobility. Recently major developments occurred the evolution of urban bus systems. Electric Bus Rapid Transit (EBRT) is one of these new solutions that can help improve the sustainability of cities and provide an innovative, modern, and high-quality service to citizens. In this context, new technologies and innovations are stimulating the evolution of the BRT systems towards electrification, automation, and increased integration with other transport modes. A new EBRT needs to incorporate these developments and consider the specificity of European urban areas. The project has the objective of creating and demonstrating a new generation of advanced full electric, urban and peri-urban BRT enhanced with novel automation and connectivity functionalities. It aims at supporting the next generation of innovative and effective public transport systems thus accelerating the transition towards zero emission road mobility across Europe. The project will demonstrate these innovative solutions in real operation in six European cities and one international city. Additionally, the project is carrying out feasibility studies and small-scale demonstrations in South America and East Africa. Finally, the overall objective of eBRT2030 is to support sustainable urban transport by reducing cost/km/passenger by 10%, TCO by 10%, greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions by 70%, and traffic congestion by 10%, through technical solutions, business models, operational scenarios, and impact assessment processes. Finally, the solutions developed and the knowledge gained will allow the definition of a new concept of (e)BRT more sustainable, efficient and future-proof.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project moved from its requirement preparation phase and progressed from a predominantly planning and design-oriented phase towards the consolidation of technical developments and the preparation of real-life demonstrations. The project almost finalised the development of all the innovative solutions (hardware & software) and the second reporting period was successfully characterised by the realisation and implementation of the EBRT solutions in the different use cases. The consortium successfully developed and realised multiple innovative solutions for electric BRT vehicles to improve the flexibility and applicability of these systems in different urban contexts. These solutions -at both hardware and software levels- aim at increasing operational efficiency, addressing different challenges and thus reducing costs. The development of all solutions has been completed and by the end of the reporting period the majority of them have been validated and integrated in the different use cases. A total of 22 tools has been completed, ranging from tools on Operational Planning, Long-term Planning, automation, IoT system, real-time services, cEMS, safety and cybersecurity. Furthermore, the development of the multi-level e-BRT simulation platform and planning tool has been successfully completed, and it is now ready for use. The tool is also made available for the follower and twinning cities of the project that have been selected during the reporting period. Significant progress has been made in relation to the demonstration of the innovative eBRT concepts in real-life operational scenarios. In Prague, during the reporting period, the new eBRT line is successfully operational and is greatly contributing to reducing greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions as well as traffic congestion. The eBRT line is successfully demonstrating In-Motion Charging of double articulated battery trolleybuses in the high demand bus line No. 119 (now line 59) connecting the airport with the city and thus offering a reliable, safe and comfortable zero-emission solution in the public transport offer. A full integration into the Prague Integrated Transport system has been achieved through multiple enhancements. Finally, T20 use cases greatly progressed. Specifically, the use case on Smart Narrow Navigation and new thermal system was successfully tested and demonstrated, while the other two are almost completed. During the reporting period, the project successfully attracted 5 twinning cities in emerging markets including the city of Lviv in Ukraine. Additionally, the project successfully selected four additional cities in the international replication demonstration cluster that will build on the European demonstrations and co-develop innovative EBRT solutions with cities, operators and in dynamic e-bus markets in Latin America and Africa.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

In terms of results, new charging concepts have been validated such as Smart, modular and highly efficient depot charging. In terms of vehicle innovations, in the reporting period validation has been completed for Advanced vehicle thermal management (EPR 3); Safe automated assisted manoeuvres for functional safety and cyber security (EPR 8);Advanced docking and autonomous driving navigation system (EPR 10). Finally, the new EBRT planning tool has been usefully completed and it is now ready to use (EPR1). For the thermal management strategy, Total energy consumption is reduced by approximately 10% in cold climate with the heating invention, resulting in approximately 10% increased range. The implementation of the innovations in real operational scenarios will contribute to the objective of reduction of GHG emissions; costs, traffic congestion etc.