6. Good Practices, lessons learned, recommendations 6.1 Turku Separately funded research project for e-bus follow-up To utilize the data from various sensors in the e-bus, and to have a general view of the process encountered, a research program was launched. The researchers at Turku University of Applied Sciences had full access to all data of the buses. Working time was allocated to the research personnel to keep track of e.g., daily distances driven, electricity consumption, number of recharging events, number of recharging problems, average speed etc. The findings of this research project include, among other things, procurement and tendering processes, mileage accumulation, charging process description and problems related to it, energy consumption details, the total cost of ownership and environmental impacts. The results were reported in a separate publication.
We recommend the measure of competition between the bus drivers using their personal score to be implemented to energysaving eco-driving among the bus drivers.
E-bus training for the whole staff, separate eco-driving training for drivers As a part of the procurement process of the e-buses, the whole operator staff (drivers, mechanics, towing staff and rescue workers) was trained to how to operate, maintain and handle the buses. At first, there was a plan to train only a part of the drivers to operate the e-buses. According to that plan, only the most motivated drivers would have been selected. However, because of the problems that would have been encountered in work shift planning due to this arrangement, it was abandoned. The driver training was implemented in two parts. The first part took place before the actual launch of the e-bus service. The emphasis of this training period was on familiarizing the drivers with the everyday operation and recharging process of the e-buses. 26
