*6.3. Conclusions*

The authors of this paper believe the results have contributed to the research community, as there is currently a lack of theoretical TCO models based on experiences from real-life public transport tests of electric buses. Both the model and the data received from testing in a Swedish environment are considered to be useful for public transport authorities, bus operators, and other stakeholders involved in public transport planning that have intentions to move towards sustainability. The model and results from testing are adapted to conditions in Sweden and northern Europe, but the model could be adopted to other regional conditions as well.

For further work, the model could be tested further with data from several real-life cases, which could lead to a database of TCOs for different routes, buses, and regional prerequisites that could be useful for future investment analysis for public transport authorities and bus operators. The TCO model could also be complemented with societal costs of emissions of air and noise, and possible social sustainability-related costs in line with earlier studies (e.g., [1,23]). The model could also be complemented with scenarios that includes electric buses charged only at bus depots to find out when it would be most cost competitive to invest in depot- or end-stop-charged buses, and also in comparison with other buses with low climate impacts.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, A.G., S.B., and O.E.; methodology, A.G., S.B., and O.E.; software, A.G.; validation, A.G., and S.B.; formal analysis, A.G.; investigation, A.G., and S.B.; resources, A.G.; data curation, A.G.; writing—original draft preparation, A.G., S.B., and O.E.; writing—review and editing, A.G., and S.B.; visualization, A.G., and S.B.; supervision, A.G., and S.B.; project administration, S.B.; funding acquisition, S.B. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was until June 2018 funded by the Swedish Energy Agency and in-kind co-funding organizations in the project "Decision support for implementing electric buses in public transport", with grant number 41411-1. After that date, the Swedish universities Blekinge Institute of Technology and Chalmers University of Technology have funded the research.

**Acknowledgments:** Organizations involved in the project "Decision support for implementing electric buses in public transport" contributed to this research by providing real-time data and experiences from using electric buses in public transport in Gothenburg, Karlstad, Umeå, Västerås, and Ängelholm, or looking into possibilities to use electric buses in other Swedish cities. In addition, participating organizations in earlier projects regarding energy transfer solutions for electrified bus systems (EAEB), and electric bus studies in the GreenCharge project can be considered to have contributed to this research, as it builds on findings of these earlier projects.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.
