RouteZero

An analytics platform supporting Australia’s largest electric bus fleet pilot project.

RouteZero draws upon real world data from a next generation electric bus fleet and smart bus depot in Leichardt Sydney, NSW. The fleet will service public bus routes in Sydney’s Inner West, the CBD, Mascot and Green Square.

The Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program is collaborating with energy consultancy Zenobe, and electricity transmission network operator, Transgrid to leverage the data collected from this pilot project to create a model for the operation of future electric bus fleets and depots. 

This model will also reduce the barriers to electrification for Australian bus operators by empowering them to assess the feasibility of electrifying their operations based on their unique, real world operating constraints and the model’s real Australian data.

The model will be made available through a web-based interface that allows users to input data such as bus specifications, route details, timetabling information and depot details, and have returned information on suitable buses for timetabled routes, charger configuration, onsite battery sizing and depot load profile – information which will substantially contribute to the planning and business case development for electric bus networks.

The project will build on machine learning, optimisation and software delivery capabilities. 

The RouteZero tool is available for free online at https://routezero.cecs.anu.edu.au/ (for advanced applications for buses or other fleet vehicles please get in touch).

The tool provides insights for individual routes and depots, as well as the impacts of electrification at a region scale. For metropolitan Sydney, for instance, the electrification of all timetabled bus routes is found to require up to 945 MWh a day of electricity.