Resumen
This study deals with the design and the evaluation of technological solutions for the electrification of public transport in urban areas. A Decision Support System (DSS) developed by ENEA ? within the Research program on Electric System (RSE) has been adopted in order to verify the technical feasibility of several electric architectures of single bus lines and compare the investment and management costs, as well as the external costs due to vehicle emissions and noises, of the feasible solutions with respect to the conventional alternatives (Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, and diesel). The DSS has been applied to several bus lines located in the south-west area of the city of Rome, Italy, and covering different types of service: peripheral lines, main lines connecting suburbs with the city center and secondary lines going to the main metro stations. Input data for the DSS derived both by simulation and by open database available from the public transport operator in Rome (ATAC). Results show that a suitable electric architecture can be found for each of these lines with lower or comparable total costs with respect to the traditional alternatives. Finally, a sensitivity analysis has been performed considering several scenarios in terms of discount rate of recharge stations and batteries, battery?s duration, price of conventional fuels.