LIFE-CYCLE COST AND EMISSIONS ASSESSMENT OF ALTERNATIVE- FUEL BUSES: A CASE STUDY OF THE DELAWARE AUTHORITY FOR REGIONAL TRANSIT (DART) by Amirhossein Shahpar A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Civil Engineering Summer 2010 Copyright 2010 Amirhossein Shahpar All Rights Reserved LIFE-CYCLE COST AND EMISSIONS ASSESSMENT OF ALTERNATIVE- FUEL BUSES: A CASE STUDY OF THE DELAWARE AUTHORITY FOR REGIONAL TRANSIT (DART) by Amirhossein Shahpar Approved: __________________________________________________________ Ardeshir Faghri, Ph.D. Professor in charge of thesis on behalf of the Advisory Committee Approved: __________________________________________________________ Harry Shenton III, Ph.D. Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Approved: __________________________________________________________ Michael Chajes, Ph.D. Dean of the College of Engineering Approved: __________________________________________________________ Debra Hess Norris, M.S. Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Ardeshir Faghri for his encouragement, patience, and guidance throughout the course of my graduate study. His comments and advice not only helped me to stay on track but also assisted me to get the most out of my time at the University of Delaware. I would like to thank Mr. Mark Glaze, Delaware Department of Transportation’s project manager and Mr. Brett Taylor, Delaware Department of Transportation’s financial and legislative policy advisor, for their comments and suggestions on my research work. I am thankful for Mr. Stephen Kingsberry, Executive Director of DART, for his patience and providing the necessary information for this study. His advice also was invaluable and helped me to make right assumptions whenever needed. I would like to thank Ms. Ellen Pletz. She treats me and the other graduate students as if we were her own children. I am also grateful for my fellow graduate students, Morteza, Sepideh, Reza, and Kadir for their support and friendship. Finally, I would like to express my deep appreciation to my beloved wife, Maryam Akhavan, for her unconditional support throughout my studies. Her motivation was certainly an inspiration. iii DEDICATION To my lovely wife, Maryam Akhavan. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.............................................................................................iii DEDICATION ..............................................................................................................iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................vii LIST OF FIGURES.......................................................................................................ix ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................xi 1. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................... 15 1.1 Background.............................................................................................. 15 1.2 Problem Statement................................................................................... 16 1.3 Purpose and Objectives ........................................................................... 17 1.4 Scope .....................................................................................................18 1.5 Organization of Thesis ............................................................................ 20 2. INTRODUCTION TO DART.................................................................................. 21 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 21 2.2 Fixed-Route Bus Routes.......................................................................... 23 2.2.1 New Castle County...................................................................... 23 2.2.2 Kent County................................................................................ 31 2.2.3 Sussex County............................................................................. 33 2.2.4 Intercounty Service..................................................................... 34 2.3 DART’s Fleets......................................................................................... 35 2.3.1 Vehicle Mode.............................................................................. 35 2.3.2 Vehicle Technology.................................................................... 39 2.3.3 Vehicle Age................................................................................. 40 2.3.4 DART’s Future Fleet Expansion Plan......................................... 40 3. FLEET ACQUIREMENT CONSIDERATIONS .................................................... 44 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 44 3.2 Acts and Legislations .............................................................................. 45 3.3 EPA Regulations..................................................................................... 50 3.4 Dominant Alternative-Fuel Buses in Practice ......................................... 54 4. LIFE-CYCLE COST AND EMISSION ESTIMATION ......................................... 62 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 62 4.2 Major Assumptions ................................................................................. 63 4.3 Life-Cycle Cost Estimation ..................................................................... 64 4.3.1 Capital Cost................................................................................. 65 4.3.1.1 Vehicle Cost................................................................. 66 4.3.1.2 Infrastructure Cost........................................................ 67 v A. Diesel (ULSD)............................................ 67 B. Biodiesel..................................................... 67 C. CNG............................................................ 68 D. Hybrid diesel-electric................................. 73 4.3.2 Operating Cost............................................................................. 74 4.3.2.1 Fuel Cost ....................................................................75 4.3.2.2 Total Maintenance Cost................................................ 79 4.3.2.3 Facility Maintenance Cost............................................ 80 4.3.2.4 Compression Electricity Cost....................................... 81 4.3.2.5 Battery Replacement Cost ............................................ 81 4.4 Emissions Estimation .............................................................................. 85 5. EXPERT SURVEY .................................................................................................. 91 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 91 5.2 Survey Objectives.................................................................................... 92 5.3 Evaluation Criteria.................................................................................. 93 5.4 Expert Selection.......................................................................................96 5.5 Questionnaire........................................................................................... 98 5.6 Results .....................................................................................................99 6. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .......................... 105 6.1 Summary and Conclusions .................................................................... 105 6.2 Recommendations ................................................................................. 109 APPENDIX (QUESTIONNAIRE) ............................................................................ 111 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................... 118 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1. DART’s New Castle County fixed-route bus routes...................................... 25 Table 1. DART’s New Castle County fixed-route bus routes (continue). ................... 26 Table 1. DART’s New Castle County fixed-route bus routes (continue). ................... 27 Table 1. DART’s New Castle County fixed-route bus routes (continue). ................... 28 Table 1. DART’s New Castle County fixed-route bus routes (continue). ................... 29 Table 1. DART’s New Castle County fixed-route bus routes (continue). ................... 30 Table 2. DART’s Kent County fixed-route bus routes................................................. 32 Table 2. DART’s Kent County fixed-route bus routes (continue)............................... 33 Table 3. DART’s Sussex County fixed-route bus routes. ............................................ 34 Table 4. DART’s fleet database. .................................................................................. 37 Table 4. DART’s fleet database (continue).................................................................. 38 Table 5. The DART’s transit buses based on their propulsion technology.................. 41 Table 6. The