Vehicle Scheduling and refueling of Hydrogen Buses with On-site Electrolysis

Abstract

In this paper, we present the first model for hydrogen-fueled bus fleet operation with on-site hydrogen production. To support the planning and operation of municipal hydrogen bus fleets, we transfer and adapt a vehicle scheduling algorithm for conventional buses. We optimize vehicle routes with regard to minimizing operational costs. Based on that, we implement a hydrogen refueling strategy suited to minimize the peak demand for a hydrogen refueling station with on-site electrolysis. To demonstrate the functionality of the approach, it is applied to a real-world scenario for public transport in Karlsruhe, Germany. The findings show that the scheduling strategy for vehicle routing and fueling is suited to reduce peak hydrogen demand and thus the required electrolyser capacity and associated costs. In comparison to a naive benchmark refueling scenario, the peak demand is reduced by 20%, lowering investment costs by 400,000 €.