Public transport is one of the essential components of the infrastructure network of many modern cities. It allows numerous people to move around the city comfortably and quickly. However, the principles of these vehicles have not changed for a long time due to the technical reasons – use of internal combustion engines. This factor limits changes in public transport only to developing new bus models and managing current transport schemes. One of the main trends in modern automotive technology is electrification, which affects both personal and public transport (Wołek et al., 2021). Using electricity as an energy source for movement is an entirely new scheme compared to gasoline, diesel, or gas engines. This way of moving is based on other principles and, accordingly, has different features both from a technical and economic perspective.
One of the key factors in favor of the growing popularity of electric motors is the environmental one. First, such cars are considered less harmful due to the absence of exhaust gases (Simão et al., 2020). In addition, they produce less noise, which is also extremely important in an urban environment. Nevertheless, a comprehensive analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of both transportation methods is necessary for an unambiguous transition to a new fuel type. It is most convenient to conduct such a study on public transport as it is a centralized and localized system with state support (Wołek et al., 2021). Therefore, the research question for this paper is formulated as follows: what are the advantages and disadvantages of public transport driven by electric motors versus internal combustion engines?
Within this topic, several points are worth paying attention to. First, it is necessary to evaluate the technical characteristics required from both types of transport to solve the given tasks. In addition, it is worth considering the infrastructure issue, which must be adapted to new technical requirements. Finally, estimating the economic costs associated with switching to a new scheme is appropriate. Combining these fundamental points will allow one to thoroughly compare these two types of transport and determine the more profitable in the short and long term.
References
Simão, J. V., Cellina, F., & Rudel, R. (2020). Critical barriers precluding the electrification of road public transport in Southern Switzerland.2020 Fifteenth International Conference on Ecological Vehicles and Renewable Energies (EVER), 1-9.
Wołek, M., Jagiełło, A., & Wolański, M. (2021). Multi-criteria analysis in the decision-making process on the electrification of public transport in cities in Poland: A case study analysis.Energies, 14(19), 6391.