Electrification of public transport in India

The purpose of the project is to develop a strategy and action plan for the electrification of public transport(PT) and intermediate public transport (IPT) services in Ahmedabad and Mehsana for the year 2026. The proposal brings together leading research groups from India and the UK on public transport planning and mobility behaviour analysis, together with technical and policy analysts on renewable energy and electricity grid assessment, to develop electrification strategies for PT and IPT in the two cities.

The key outputs of the study along with the inputs are discussed below:

a) Baseline Diagnostic Study Report: This would require inputs from field data collection, a survey of mobility behaviour, and stakeholder engagements. Stakeholder engagements will be conducted in both cities, with city authorities, regulatory agencies and PT agencies to understand their approach towards electric mobility, and with bus operators and IPT drivers/operators to understand their concerns and willingness to shift to electric vehicles.

Bus user perception and behaviour change surveys will be conducted on the recently deployed 50 electric buses in Ahmedabad while other bus users in Ahmedabad and IPT users in Mehsana would be surveyed to understand their perceptions about the quality of bus/IPT operations. The results of the consultation and data survey will be analysed to inform the baseline diagnostic study report. 

A review of international experiences and business models for implementing electric mobility initiatives, especially from developing countries, will also be conducted. Information on the latest policy framework at the national/state level, funding sources and city initiatives for EV will be gathered for the case cities.

b) Electrification Strategy and Action Plan for busses in Ahmedabad and IPT in Mehsana in consultation with city authorities and PT/IPT operators, as well as scenarios for electric mobility for each city will be developed and assessed. The assessment would be based on the impact of GHG emission reduction, accessibility, especially for women and urban poor, grid impacts, and financial and institutional capacities.

This along with discussions with key stakeholders would inform the development of electric mobility strategies for the two cities.

c) Creation of stakeholder networks: Advisory and working groups with different stakeholders would be formed for strengthening working relationships and to create greater buy-in on the electrification strategy.

d) Knowledge products and dissemination: This includes a range of knowledge products on the EV ecosystem and the dissemination activities to share project findings with a wider audience.

Project duration: 15th Jan. 2021 - 31st Dec. 2021

Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Dr Chun Sing Lai - Dr Chun Sing Lai is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) and Course Director for MSc Electric Vehicle Systems. He joined Brunel as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Jan 2020. He is an academic member of the Transnational Education (TNE) CQUPT programme for BEng Electronics and Communications Engineering. He is a member of Brunel Interdisciplinary Power Systems (BIPS) Research Centre. His current interests are in power system optimisation, energy system modeling, data analytics, electric vehicle systems, hybrid powertrains optimisation, and energy economics for renewable energy and storage systems. From 2018 to 2020, Dr Lai was an EPSRC Research Fellow with the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Leeds as the lead researcher for EP/P022049/1: Generation Integrated Energy Storage - A Paradigm Shift. He is a Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds and Visiting Research Fellow with the Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Automation, Guangdong University of Technology, China. He is Vice-Chair of the IEEE Smart Cities Publications Committee. Since 2022, Dr Lai is Associate Vice President, Systems Science and Engineering of the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society (IEEE/SMCS). Since 2020, Dr Lai is Vice-counsellor for Brunel University London IEEE Student Branch. He is a Member of Early Career Researchers Committee of EPSRC Supergen Energy Storage Network+. He organised the workshop on Smart Grid and Smart City, IEEE SMC 2017 in Canada and a workshop on Blockchain for Smart Grid, IEEE SMC 2018 in Japan. He was a Publications Co-Chair for IEEE International Smart Cities Conference ISC2 (2020 and 2021). Dr Lai is a Technical Programme Chair for IEEE ISC2 2022 and Publications Co-Chair for 2022 the 12th International Conference on Power and Energy Systems (ICPES 2022). He was an Invited Speaker at 2023 6th Asia Conference on Energy and Electrical Engineering (ACEEE 2023) and 2023 6th International Conference on Power and Smart Grid. He has successfully secured funding to lead Standards-Related Activities in 2022-23 from IEEE Technical Activities Board Committee on Standards (TAB CoS). He is a recipient of the IET International Travel Award and Meritorious Service Award from the IEEE SMC Society for "meritorious and significant service to IEEE SMC Society technical activities and standards development" in 2022. In 2024, the Technical Committee on Intelligent Power and Energy Systems (IPES) chaired by Dr Chun Sing Lai and Prof Loi Lei Lai recieved the IEEE Most Active SMC Technical Committee Award for Systems Science and Engineering. Dr Lai is an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems (IF: 8.6), IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics (IF: 4.3); IET Energy Conversion and Economics, and Frontiers in Energy Research (Smart Grids) (IF: 2.6). He is an Editorial Board member for Sensors (Industrial Sensors, IF: 3.4), Topics Board member for Electronics, and Reviewer Board member for Applied Sciences, as well as Guest Editor for several IEEE and MDPI journals. Dr Lai has co-authored "Smart Energy for Transportation and Health in a Smart City", Wiley, 2023. He is a book editor for "Electrification of Smart Cities", Electronics 2022. He is a Member and Contributor to IEEE Task Force on Enabling Paradigms for High-performance Computing in Wide Area Monitoring Protective and Control Systems. He has contributed to six journal papers that appear on Web of Science as Highly Cited Papers with three as the lead author. Since 2021, he is recognised as the top 2% of world active scientists by survey conducted by Stanford University. Dr Lai is a frequent reviewer for research grant applications such as National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FONDECYT), Government of Chile.

Related Research Group(s)

Brunel Interdisciplinary Power Systems - Power systems analysis for transmission and distribution networks, smart grids; congestion monitoring in transmission networks; simulation and analysis of new energy markets; optimisation of the design and operation of electrical networks; condition monitoring of power station and power system plant; energy-efficient designs for underground electric power cables.

Project last modified 13/10/2023