The SIJ Transactions on Computer Science Engineering & its Applications (CSEA), Vol. 2, No.

3, May 2014
ISSN: 2321-2381 2014 | Published by The Standard International Journals (The SIJ) 99



AbstractIn this paper, dynamic analysis and simulation of electric bus vehicle are illustrated. They consist of
mathematical models integrating with large-scale vehicle movement and calculation of electric traction
performances. The electric bus vehicle movement is studied by applying the Newtons second law of motion.
Traction force of the electric bus vehicle is supplied from electric motors instead of a diesel engine. This
dynamic modeling and simulation can be used to estimate vehicle performance during vehicle running
services. To exhibit these analysis and simulation, an electric mini-bus of 12-ton weight is employed for
simulation to provide a single-trip service distance of 9.4 km. The bus route used in this work is obtained by
acquiring GPS tracking data on-board the bus. As a result, the electric bus vehicle requires energy from a set of
on-board batteries of 10.2 kWh per trip and draws the peak power of 155 kW from the traction motor.
KeywordsDynamic Simulation; Electric Bus Vehicle; Newton's Second Law of Motion; Traction
Performance; Vehicle Resistance.
AbbreviationsGlobal Position System GPS); Suranaree University of Technology (SUT).

I. INTRODUCTION
bus transport vehicle uses a conventional internal
combustion engine propulsion system. This type of
buses normally engages a diesel power-train and is
also known as diesel buses. Because of its safety, reliability
and efficiency, diesel is the predominant power source for
public transit, school and intercity bus services nationwide.
Nearly all buses and heavy-duty large trucks use diesel
engines because of the massive torque available. The
sufficient engine torque is the key to help the vehicle pull
huge amounts of weight. Diesel fuel is one of the most
efficient and energy dense fuels available today [Corbo,
1998; United States Environmental Protection Agency,
2008]. Because it contains more usable energy than gasoline,
it delivers better fuel economy. Although diesel fuel is
considered more efficient than gasoline, the diesel engine still
needs regular maintenance to keep them running.
Within the last decade, electric bus vehicles have been
introduced and replacing conventional diesel bus vehicles for
test in some city bus services. The electric engine, so-called
electric motor, does not result in a bus that is simply more
environmentally friendly yet of a lower quality, in fact the
overall performance is arguably improved. In addition to their
main quality of a reduction in air pollution due to the lack of
emissions, electric transport has proven itself adept at
ascending steep hills, making the electric bus very popular.
The electric engine causes far less vibration throughout the
vehicle, making for a more comfortable journey for those on
board without the rattling often experienced when a bus is
at lights or a stop. A reduction in vibration also increases the
life and reduces maintenance requirements of the bus, making
it a cost-effective option for operators. Although the initial
introduction of an electric transport system and fleet can be
costly, as a long-term mode of public electric transport buses
are surprisingly cost-effective in terms of lifespan and
upkeep. One of the most common causes of approval for the
electric bus is its lack of noise. The electric buses are
noticeably quiet, lowering noise pollution and increasing
comfort for those onboard. In addition, regenerative braking
demonstrated with the electric bus means that the motor acts
as a generator, channelling excess energy back into the
battery on the bus. Diesel buses would see this energy
expelled as friction during braking, meaning that the electric
bus saves around 30% of energy through this difference alone
[Chandler et al., 2002; Hallmark, 2012].
In this paper, the study of traction performance and
dynamic simulation of bus vehicle is focused in order to
investigate an amount of energy consumption of a single trip
of the bus service. This information will help electric bus
designers to decide how large of the on-board battery
capacity and what the traction motor rating are. So that, this
paper organizes a total of five sections. Next section, Section
two, illustrates the mathematical model representing the
electric bus vehicle movement and traction performance
calculation. Section three gives the brief of MATLAB
platform which is a software tool to develop simulation
codes. Section four presents simulation results and
discussion. Conclusion is in Section five.
A
*School of Electrical Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, THAILAND. E-Mail: thanatchai{at}gmail{dot}com
**School of Electrical Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, THAILAND. E-Mail: suchartlek17{at}gmail{dot}com
Thanatchai Kulworawanichpong* & Suchart Punpaisarn**
Dynamic Simulation of Electric Bus
Vehicle
The SIJ Transactions on Computer Science Engineering & its Applications (CSEA), Vol. 2, No. 3, May 2014
ISSN: 2321-2381 2014 | Published by The Standard International Journals (The SIJ) 100
II. ELECTRIC BUS DYNAMIC SIMULATION
The key dynamic variables of bus vehicle movement are
position, velocity and acceleration rate. During single vehicle
motion, the relationships among these variables are only
subject to the straightforward kinematic equation according
to the Newtons second law of motion [Henclewood, 2007;
Mashadi & Crolla, 2012]. Let consider figure 1, a bus vehicle
is moving up on an incline road surface. This motion can be
expressed mathematically by using the free body diagram
describing all the forces acting on the bus vehicle as shown in
(1).

Figure 1: Free Body Diagram of the Bus Vehicle Movement
T R eff
F F M a =

(1)
R RR grad drag
F F F F = + +

(2)
Where
F
T
denotes the tractive effort of the bus vehicle
F
R
denotes the resistance force of the bus vehicle
F
RR
denotes the rolling resistance force of the bus vehicle
F
drag
denotes the aerodynamic drag force of the bus
vehicle
F
grad
denotes the gravitational force (gradient force) of
the bus vehicle
M
eff
denotes the total mass of the bus vehicle
a denotes the bus vehicle acceleration
2.1. Tractive Effort
Tractive effort or tractive force [Repi, 2011] is produced at
the tyre-road interface. It is caused by the applied torque from
traction motors to the wheel axis slip in the contact area. It
notes that F
T
s F
max
, otherwise the wheel slipping rather than
spinning. The bus vehicle accelerates through the application
of tractive forces. Diesel engine and electric motor are the
propulsion system to generate the traction forces for diesel
and electric vehicles, respectively.
Diesel engine typically works at larger torques and low
speeds. In a certain gear, the tractive force is considerably
degraded with a wide range of the operating speed. It is clear
that the tractive force at each gear varies with vehicle speed.
At low gear, the tractive force is greater and produces greater
acceleration. The non-smooth tractive effort of a diesel
engine resulting from all gears is shown in figure 2-a). AC
motors, induction or permanent magnet synchronous, are
generally used as traction motors for medium-duty and
heavy-duty electric vehicles. One of the inherent properties of
electric motors is the production of torque at zero speed.
Power electronic inverters are necessary tools for controlling
the torque-speed characteristics of the traction motors. Figure
2-b) illustrates the controlled characteristics of the tractive
effort of the electric traction motor [Vu, 2012].

a) Diesel Engine

b) Electric Motor
Figure 2: Tractive Effort of the Bus Vehicle [Soylu, 2011]
(3) is used to simplify the tractive force for use in
association with the vehicle movement.
T m m
T
F
v
q t e
=

(3)
Where
F
T
is the tractive effort
q
T
is the overall power transmission system efficiency
t
m
is the torque produced by the traction motor
e
m
is the rotational speed of the traction motors shaft
v is the longitudinal speed of the bus vehicle
2.2. Resistance Force
There are resistive forces, F
R
, opposing of the vehicle motion
[Duysinx, 2012]. The resistive forces can be categorized into
three types: frictional forces, commonly called rolling
resistance, air resistance or dynamic drag forces and
gravitational or gradient forces.
The SIJ Transactions on Computer Science Engineering & its Applications (CSEA), Vol. 2, No. 3, May 2014
ISSN: 2321-2381 2014 | Published by The Standard International Journals (The SIJ) 101
The rolling resistance is the resistance to motion of
rotating parts. It can be categorized into two main resistances:
i) frictional torques (bearing torques, gear teeth friction, brake
pads) and ii) tyre deformation. (4) is the mathematical
representation of the rolling resistance.
( )
0 1 RR R
F f W f f v W = ~ +

(4)
Where
W is the wheel load
f
R
is the rolling resistance coefficient
f
0
and f
1
are two constants (for simplification, f
1
is
neglected)
f
0
= 0.005 0.010 (truck vehicle running on asphalt or
concrete road)
2.3. Aerodynamic Drag Forces
The motion of a vehicle is taking place in the air and the
force exerted by air on the vehicle will influence the motion.
The aerodynamic resistance force results from three basic
effects: i) the pressure different in front and behind the
vehicle due to the separation of the air flow and the vortex
creation behind the vehicle, ii) skin friction representing the
surface roughness of the vehicle body and iii) internal flow of
air entering the internal parts of the vehicle [Hucho, 1998;
Kalm, 2007]. It is common to express the aerodynamic
resistance force in the basic form as (5).
2
1
2
drag air d F air
F C A v =

(5)
Where

air
is air density (kg/m
3
)
C
d
is an aerodynamic drag coefficient
A
F
is the projected frontal area of the vehicle
v
air
is the speed of air relative to the vehicle body
2.4. Gravitational or Gradient Forces
The gravitational force [Tautkus, 2011] on a slope will act in
opposite direction for uphill and downhill motion of the
vehicle. The positive and negative signs are for the downhill
and uphill motions respectively. The gravitational force is a
constant force as long as the slope is constant. (6) is the
mathematical representation of the gradient force.
sin
grad eff
F M g u = (6)
Where
M
eff
is the vehicle mass (kg)
g is the gravitational constant (9.81 m/s
2
)
u is the slope angle
2.5. Equation of Motion
The relation between velocity and time is a simple one during
constantly accelerated, straight-line motion. Constant
acceleration implies a uniform rate of change in the velocity.
The longer the acceleration, the greater the change in
velocity. Change in velocity is directly proportional to time
when acceleration is constant. If an object already started
with a certain velocity, then its new velocity would be the old
velocity plus this change. This is the easiest of the three
equations to derive formally. Start from the definition of
acceleration, expand the v term, and solve for v as a
function of t. The first equation, (7), is the relation between
velocity and time.
The displacement of a moving object is directly
proportional to both velocity and time. Acceleration
compounds this simple situation. Displacement is directly
proportional to time and directly proportional to velocity,
which is directly proportional to time. Time is a factor twice,
making displacement proportional to the square of time. The
second equation of motion, (8), is the relation of
displacement and time.
Combining the above two equations gives rise to a third,
(9). Therefore, displacement is proportional to velocity
squared when acceleration is constant.
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
2 1
2
x t t x t v t t a t + A = + A + A

(7)
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) { }
2 2
2 v t t v t a x t t x t + A = + + A

(8)
Where
At is the time step
x(t) is the displacement at time t
v(t) is the velocity or speed at time t
a is the acceleration of motion
START
Load system input parameters
Calculate kinetic variables: speed,
displacement, acceleration
Initialize all variables
e.g. t = 0
Calculate resistance forces: rolling
resistance, drag, gradient forces
Calculate tractive force, input power,
energy consumption
Store data
t > Tstop
t = t + At
END

Figure 3: Structure of Simulation Program
III. SIMULATION MODEL AND
PROGRAMMING STRUCTURE
The bus vehicle movement simulator presented in this paper
is simplistic. The power propulsion system is assumed to be a
set of inverters, battery storage systems and traction motors.
However, it neglects any complicated models of these
equipment. The battery is represented by an ideal energy
source. The efficiency of the on-board inverter and the
The SIJ Transactions on Computer Science Engineering & its Applications (CSEA), Vol. 2, No. 3, May 2014
ISSN: 2321-2381 2014 | Published by The Standard International Journals (The SIJ) 102
traction motors for this application is normally high. Thus, all
these can be represented by a single parameter of the overall
power-conversion efficiency. The simulation program
structure can be summarized as described in figure 3
[Punpaisarn & Kulworawanichpong, 2014].
In this study, existing buses are considered as test
vehicles. It assumes that a GPS tracking device is equipped
on-board bus vehicles [Fuse & Shimizu, 2000]. The speed-
time and road altitude curves are vital components to conduct
this simulation. An example of the vehicle speed trajectory
and road altitude is shown in figure 4.

Figure 4: Example of GPS Tracking Data
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In this paper, study of a single trip bus vehicle service is
carried out. The campus bus service in Suranaree University
of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, is selected for
this test as shown in figure 5. The GPS tracking module used
in this work is a skylab GPS module SKM55 with high
sensitivity of -165 dBm. The GPS tracking device and its
tarcking interface via google map can be shown in figure 6.
The bus route is 9.4 km long as described in figure 7-a). The
speed trajectory and road altitude of the bus vehicle service
acquired from the GPS tracking device are given in figure 8
and figure 7-b), respectively. The test was performed on an
Intel, Core 2 Duo, 2.4 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM with MATLAB
software.

Figure 5: SUTs Campus Bus Service


Figure 6: GPS Tracking Module and its Tracking Software

a) Bus Route

b) Road Altitude
Figure 7: Test Route in SUT Campus
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
220
225
230
235
240
245
250
255
R
o
a
d

G
r
a
d
i
e
n
t

P
r
o
f
i
l
e

(
m
:

S
S
L
)
Distance (km)
The SIJ Transactions on Computer Science Engineering & its Applications (CSEA), Vol. 2, No. 3, May 2014
ISSN: 2321-2381 2014 | Published by The Standard International Journals (The SIJ) 103

Figure 8: Speed Trajectory of the Bus Vehicle under Study
The simulation shows that the total time of the test bus
service is 27 minutes approximately. The maximum tractive
effort is about 14.3 kN as shown in figure 9 for the simulated
traction force curve. The maximum power drawn from the
battery is about 155 kW as described in figure 10. This pins
out the limitation of the peak of the traction motor used for
this electric bus vehicle design. The total energy consumption
of the battery for one trip service is about 10.2 kWh. This
value can be used to estimate the energy capacity of the on-
board battery.

Figure 9: Simulated Traction Force of the Bus Vehicle

Figure 10: Simulated Power Supplied by the On-Board Battery of
the Bus Vehicle
V. CONCLUSION
This paper describes analysis and simulation of electric bus
vehicle movement and traction performance calculation. The
purpose of this simulation is to obtain necessary information
for evaluating capacity of on-board battery and traction
motors. This study is based on the Newtons second law of
motion in which three main resistance forces (rolling
resistance, aerodynamic drag resistance and gravitational
resistance) are taken into account. From the calculation,
tractive force created by the traction motors, power and
energy supplied by the on-board battery are obtained. This
information can be used accordingly to design motor and
battery sizing of the electric bus vehicles.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was financially supported by Provincial Electric
Authority of Thailand (Grant ID: B-036-56) to Thanatchai
Kulworawanichpong.
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0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
B
u
s

s
p
e
e
d

(
k
m
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h
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time (s)
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-2
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
time (s)
T
r
a
c
t
i
v
e

f
o
r
c
e

(
k
N
)
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
-20
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
time (s)
E
l
e
c
t
r
i c

t
r
a
c
t
i
o
n

p
o
w
e
r

(
k
W
)
The SIJ Transactions on Computer Science Engineering & its Applications (CSEA), Vol. 2, No. 3, May 2014
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Thanatchai Kulworawanichpong. He is an
associate professor of the School of Electrical
Engineering, Institute of Engineering,
Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon
Ratchasima, THAILAND. He received
B.Eng. with first-class honour in Electrical
Engineering from Suranaree University of
Technology, Thailand (1997), M.Eng. in
Electrical Engineering from Chulalongkorn
University, Thailand (1999), and Ph.D. in Electronic and Electrical
Engineering from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
(2003). His fields of research interest include a broad range of
electrical power systems, railway electrification, traction system and
electric vehicle, power electronic, electrical drives and control,
optimization and artificial intelligent techniques. He has joined the
school since June 1998 and is currently a leader in Electric
Transportation Research and Electrical Power System, Suranaree
University of Technology, to supervise and co-supervise over 15
postgraduate students.
Suchart Punpaisarn. He received B.Eng. in
Electronics Engineering from
Vongchavalitkul University, Nakhon
Ratchasima, Thailand (1998) and M.Eng. in
Electrical Engineering from Kasetsart
University, Bangkok, Thailand (2005). He
worked as an Assistant Chief Engineer, JVC
(Components) Thailand Company, Nakhon
Ratchasima, Thailand (1996 2002) - Level
IV Engineer and a Senior Engineer, Seagate Technology (Thailand)
Ltd., Nakhon Rachasima, Thailand (2005-2007) Level V
Engineer. Currently he is a Ph.D. student conducting his research in
electric bus vehicle analysis, simulation and design. His research
interests include control system, process and industrial control and
instrument, electronic and digital circuit design, robotics, signal and
image processing, artificial intelligence and optimization.