Mechatronic system for energy efficiency in bus transport

Green transport for improving air quality is essential and urgent goal for reaching a healthy environment. In towns with large fleets of public vehicles, technology transfer from standard into new and better solutions requires, in general, time and great investments. This paper presents a quick retrofit for conventional buses in urban transport in order to reduce fuel consumption by using photovoltaic (PV) panels that only recharge the original bus batteries. Experimental tests show that this solution is really effective. Indeed, it could save, per year, several hundred liters of diesel fuel for each bus after considering a solar energy production of about 1.4 MWh.