Simulating mobility to plan for electric minibus taxis in Sub-Saharan Africa's paratransit

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is faced with the challenge to integrate e-mobility into its paratransit (its informal mass transit). Old, unsafe, fuel-inefficient, polluting minibus taxis are the cornerstone of daily commuting for millions in the region. Planning for electrification requires accurate high...

Mô tả đầy đủ

Chi tiết về thư mục
Những tác giả chính: Giliomee, JH, Hull, C, Collett, KA, McCulloch, M, Booysen, MJ
Định dạng: Journal article
Ngôn ngữ:English
Được phát hành: Elsevier 2023
Miêu tả
Tóm tắt:Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is faced with the challenge to integrate e-mobility into its paratransit (its informal mass transit). Old, unsafe, fuel-inefficient, polluting minibus taxis are the cornerstone of daily commuting for millions in the region. Planning for electrification requires accurate high-frequency mobility data, which is currently unavailable. We analyse and improve on existing simulation models, which predict the energy usage with a micro-traffic simulation, SUMO, that up-samples low-frequency mobility data. We show that, compared to using measured mobility data, the current simulation approach overestimates energy expenditure. Results show a mean energy expenditure per distance overestimation of 14%, and mean energy per trip overestimation of 46%. We identify and virtualisation errors in the current driver and infrastructure models, and identify shortcomings of imposing a virtual road network with simulation software in the SSA context. We recommend and demonstrate virtualisation improvements for accurate electro-mobility planning in future.