COMPARISON BETWEEN SERIES-HYBRID VELOMOBILE AND OTHER MODES OF TRANSPORT FOR COMMUTING WITHIN A CITY PER H. SØRENSEN 1

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1 COMPARISON BETWEEN SERIES-HYBRID VELOMOBILE AND OTHER MODES OF TRANSPORT FOR COMMUTING WITHIN A CITY PER H. SØRENSEN 1 Faculty of Science and Technology University of Stavanger Introduction Summary: Seven metrics are used to qualitative compare six different transport modes for a 10 km commute twice every working day. Car, bus, scooter with internal combustion engine (ICE), bicycle, Pedelec (electric assisted cycle) and series-hybrid velomobile are compared in a Norwegian city scenario, comparing speed, time consumption, cost with and without travel time, CO 2 emissions, exercise benefit, damage potential in collision in a single radar chart. Key words: Transport modes, emissions, sustainability, pedelec, velomobile The car has been seen as a vital part of modern society. Unfortunately, the massive implementations of private cars have caused a collection of more or less severe problems in all countries. It is well known that car accidents are a major cause of death and hospitalization. But the huge number of cars also causes a lot of secondary problems as well. For example are air pollution from traffic as lethal as the traffic itself, causing at least as many deaths as road accidents (1). In Norway, cars are seen as the fastest mode of transport but they are very expensive. They require all the income from a full day of work per week to cover the cost of owning and using the vehicle 2. Adding the car cost and cost of travel time based on labour rates together, the car becomes extremely expensive. In addition, the non-personal negative impact of massive car use should be part of the equation when selecting transport mode for commuting. ICE-scooters, scooters with internal combustion engines including mopeds and motorcycles, are quite time efficient and not as expensive as a car but give low or zero weather protection. Bus is very time consuming and becomes extremely costly when calculating travel time as cost on labor rates. Local train and trams are costly and have limited practicality due to low frequency except in the few areas with more than citizens. Highly functional multi modality like bringing bicycles along on the train has not been examined as this is generally not available in rush hour. Bicycling is the least costly transport mode available when disregarding time to travel, with the exception of bare walking, which is not included due to the distance selected for modality comparison. Unfortunately, bicycles are not very efficient with regard to speed and Norwegian weather, often being wet or windy or both. In addition, the distance of 10 km each way would normally require a shower and clothes change unless using pedelec, adding either time or additional cost. The benefit of a bicycle is clearly the low cost. Also the longest exercise could be regarded as a plus, depending on training requirements. 1 perhassel@gmail.com 2 As shown in this paper, the car cost NOK 262 per day, NOK 1834 per week. Norwegian average Income is NOK per minute. So the car requir minutes, or 9 hours and 47 minutes of work every week to be paid for. 1

2 A new type of vehicle, a series-hybrid velomobile, SHV, has aerodynamic shell over a pedal driven recumbent bicycle with electric assist that offer major improvements over the bicycle. Use of SHV would reduce time consumption to less than half compared to a regular bicycle, due to twice the speed and no need for shower and exchange of clothes, sharing these benefits with Pedelecs, electric assisted cycles. Velomobiles offers at least some collision protection and variable weather protection depending on construction. Some extra time is used riding a SHV compared to a car or ICE-scooter. But work hours must be even longer to pay for the extra cost of the car or scooter. In addition, if one include the time used for exercising while riding as saved time that has a monetary value, the SHV cost becomes even less. Results of the comparison can be found in Figure 1. Least cost excl time cost Least collision energy Least cost incl time cost Least emissions Fastest travel Best protection Longest exercise duration car bus ICE scooter bicycle S-H velomobile Pedelec Costs of using vehicle Figure 1 - Comparison of key criteria for various modes of city transport Cost of using a private car, for example Volkswagen Passat, Toyota Avensis or Peugeot 508 is NOK 262 per day when driven km (2), (3). That gives a cost of NOK /km. Bus: NOK is the price for a one year travel card in Oslo (2013). With 235 working days this cost is split on 470 trips, each 10 km, resulting in a travel cost of NOK /km. 2

3 The cost of owning and using a small ICE based moped/scooter is estimated to NOK 625 per month when driven 300 km per month (4). This is only 3/4 of the distance travelled in the base case which will decrease cost per km. In addition the cost does not include interest for the vehicle which will increase cost per km. It is estimated that these two deviations compensate for each other resulting in cost of NOK /km. As sources for documenting the cost of using a bicycle has not been found, the following estimates has been used: Lifetime before bike is replaced is 4 years. Estimated purchase cost NOK Estimated NOK 1000 per year in total running costs that includes locks, spares, service, insurance, parking and storage etc. Estimated distance travelled is 4700 km for 235 working days plus 1300 km additional travel, total 6000 km per year. This result in a cost of NOK 0.33 /km. As sources for documenting the cost of using a pedelec has not been found, the following estimates has been used: Lifetime before pedelec is replaced (or stolen) is 6 years. Estimated purchase cost NOK Estimated NOK 1500 per year in total running costs that includes locks, spares, service, insurance, parking and storage etc. Estimated distance travelled is 4700 km for 235 working days plus 1300 km additional travel, total 6000 km per year. This result in a cost of NOK 0.74/km. Reliable sources documenting the cost of owning and using a series-hybrid velomobile is not yet available. Based on limited volume production estimated cost is NOK with running cost estimated to twice the running cost of bicycle; NOK 2000 per year partly due to addition of more tires, battery, and protective cover. Higher purchase price also result in more costly insurance. Electric energy used for charging is not relevant. On a trip author did in hilly areas using a not very efficient electric assisted velomobile, the average electric consumption measured from the battery was only 5.5 Wh/km (5), adding up to less than NOK 1 for a 227 km trip. When using the s-h velomobile as a car replacement it is estimated that the vehicle travel km, 2/3 of the km travelled by the example car. It is also estimated that the relatively low cost of the vehicle can be financed without a loan and thus 2.5% interest, i.e. NOK 1000 per year is reasonable. A velomobile is typically sold at ½ price if well treated. If kept for 7 year the ownership costs NOK ( ) = NOK which is NOK 0.59/km. Equivalent CO 2 emissions Average equivalent CO 2 emissions of a petrol car is g /km/passenger see table 5 (6). This does not include additional emissions caused by cold motor, queue for typical rush hour traffic. In addition this is based on average occupancy of 1.6 persons per car, see page 37 (6). Single occupancy transport will increase emissions further. Bus: Average equivalent CO 2 emissions for a diesel bus in city traffic is 94 g/km/passenger, see table 5 in (6). This is based on average occupancy of 19.3 passengers per bus in average, see page 47 (6). In average, ICE based two wheelers have unproportionally high greenhouse gas emissions when compared to cars (7). Even if CO 2 emissions are somewhat reduced due to less fuel used, other emissions are much higher than for cars, adding GHG constituents that results in approximate same carbon footprint as an average petrol car, i.e. 106,8 g/km. New European directives 3

4 that will be enforced within a few years may lower emissions from two wheelers. Speed of travel Bus: Average speed of a car in city is highly dependent on local traffic. Maximum speed in town in Norway is 50 km/h. Some queue and traffic jams in cross sections will reduce the average speed. Assuming 40 km/h would be a reasonable estimate,. It is possibly overestimated but not to far off. Speed of bus in a city is 22.3 km/h based on median value for bus statistics presented in (5). Average speed of an ICE-scooter is estimated to 45 km/h, achievable by most two wheeled ICE vehicles and slightly faster than cars due to ease of passing queues. Many Norwegian cities have reduced speed in many streets to 40 km/h. That makes 45 km/h a reasonable maximum speed for ICE two wheelers. Speed of bicycle in city traffic including time to park and lock is 15 km/h, see page 18 in (4). Speed of pedelec in city traffic including time to park and lock is 20 km/h. Max speed for pedelec in EU is 25 km/h but in city traffic average becomes less than max. Assuming a fast series hybrid velomobile, 27.5 km/h average is achievable. Author regularly travel km/h in average using a less aerodynamic velomobile in hilly terrain. Additional time consumption Assuming 2 minutes to locate parking space and drive off or park at each end of journey, 4 min per day. Bus: Average distance to nearest bus stop is m according to (4). Assume 2 x 350 m resulting in 9 min walking per day for average commuter travel by bus. Assuming 2 minutes to locate parking space and drive off or park at each end of journey, 4 min per day. 20 minutes additional time in wardrobe/shower. Time to park and lock is included in travel time estimate. Time to park and lock is included in travel time estimate. Assuming 2 minutes to locate parking space and drive off or park at each end of journey, 4 min per day. Cost of time 4

5 Average yearly income before tax is NOK (10). Average tax is 29.8% (10) resulting in average available income of NOK A working year consists of hours. Income per minute is then: per minute. Exercise as part of journey Training time is all time spent on the journey while not sitting in/on a fully motorized vehicle (bus, car, ICE-scooter). Collision energy Potential collision energy is based on the following estimates: Person: Bus: A person has a mass of 75 kg, as used officially for car legislation. Mass of car with 1.6 occupants is estimated to 1600 kg. Mass of bus with 19.3 passengers is estimated to kg. Mass of scooter with driver is estimated to 180 kg. Mass of bicycle plus rider is estimated to 90 kg. Mass of pedelec plus rider is estimated to 100 kg. Mass of series hybrid velomobile including rider is estimated to 110 kg. Best protection Protection values are estimated values based on risk for occupants of vehicle to be seriously damaged in a traffic accident. Modern car has very good protection when driven in city with low and moderate speed. Slightly higher risk than bus passengers, P = 0.9 Bus: Best protection, least risk, P = 1 Moderate to high risk, P = 0.35 Highest risk, P = 0 No protection but slightly less risk taking in traffic compared to bicycle due to less cost involved when reducing speed, P = 0.25 Some protection, moderate risk, P =

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