Athar of The Ohio State University

The recent Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) reaffirms the decarbonizing of the transportation sector in the United States. This bill will ensure the penetration of EVs in all sectors by increasing charging station accessibility and removing barriers to further EV adoption nationwide. This mandates to investigation of all transportation sectors for EV adoption and remove the barriers. School buses are one of the largest bus networks in the USA. These buses are widely run on fossil fuels and require the execution of a variety of steps before their electrification. Before these e-school buses can be deployed at the mass level, we need to understand the energy needs and influence their fleet composition. The energy need requires a thorough understanding of each school district for their road loads (number of bus stops, trip duration, electric range, and grade profile). Typically, we see 4 types of school buses on the road these days, however, the 4 types will not be sustainable options for their electric variants, unless the whole design space is investigated for optimal sizes. Unlike diesel variants, battery holds the primary cost in the EV, oversizing it will have a significant financial impact on the school districts. Besides the road loads, the other major subsystems consuming the school bus’s energy resources are the body and dash heating and cooling loads. The bus body climate control load on the battery can impact its range and performance. These loads can impact the bus range by 50+%. This means that in winter, the same e-school bus will travel 50% fewer miles.

Biography:

Athar Hanif is a Research Scientist with the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) at the Faculty of Engineering, The Ohio State University. He received his BSc in Electrical Engineering with Honors from the University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, Pakistan, and his MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (Major in Control Systems) from the Capital University of Science and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan, in 2018.

His research includes controls, power electronics, electric machines, and electrification of automotive systems. He has authored more than 50 international peer-reviewed journal and conference publications. His research projects are funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the US Department of Energy (DOE), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and main US automotive companies.

Email:

Address: Center for AUTOMOTIVE RESEARCH, 930 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, United States, 43212-1443