*5.1. Cost Comparison for Di*ff*erent Bus Types*

The cost of different types of buses are compared in Figure 12 for a specific bus route and timetable, where a bar-chart shows how the TCO varies between different types of buses. Besides the bar-chart, there is another diagram showing the investigated timetable as the number of departures per hour over a full day. We start by comparing the TCO for the electric buses with two different charging strategies. Due to reduced number of buses, the cost of the bus depreciation is lower for the charging strategy that does not charge during the peak times (EndStop2) when compared to charging during the whole day (EndStop1). A second order effect is that less driver hours are needed for EndStop2 since fewer buses are driven to and from the depot. However, the higher cost of bigger batteries outweighs the savings from fewer buses, and the total cost is slightly higher for the EndStop2 strategy than for EndStop1, at least in this case.

**Figure 12.** The cost of different types of buses on the reference bus route and with the reference timetable. EndStop1 and 2 buses are powered by electricity, while the others are powered by biogas (CNG) or biodiesel (HVO). (Note that the *y*-axis starts at 18 SEK/km, so the driver cost is more than half the TCO).

Electric buses have almost the same total cost as buses powered by biogas. Electricity is much cheaper than biogas, but the buses, batteries and chargers are still much more expensive than the biogas buses. The extra driver time for charging also adds to the cost of these electric buses. HVO buses are cheaper than biogas buses, due to a lower bus price, less maintenance and, for now, cheaper fuel. However, it will be difficult to find enough supply of HVO with a high reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in large quantities. Therefore, HVO buses are not seen as a long-term, large-scale solution for buses in Sweden.

However, only comparing the bus types for one route and one timetable can be misleading as it can give the impression that the cost difference between different types of buses are always the same. This is not the case, since the TCO can vary differently for the different type of buses when the bus route and timetable are changed.
