A long-term operation test in cold region of electric buses on public roads was performed in Nagano prefecture as a project of the Japan Ministry of the Environment from 2011 to 2014. For this project, the short-range frequent charging type electric buses, "Waseda Electric Buses (WEBs)" were developed. WEB-3, one of the test vehicles, was driven for 42,114 km over 902 days and charged 4,298 times. In this paper, the following was obtained. (1) The battery performance deterioration is measured and proofed to be predictable. (2) One strategy is advised for expanding battery lifetime. (3) Even started the operation at sub-zero environment, the performance of vehicle was not affected.

Electric buses have superior environmental performance because they emit no CO2and other exhaust gases while driving. However, in terms of more popularization of electric buses, it is essential to improve battery performance and realize user-friendliness of charging. To resolve these issues, a concept "short range running and frequent charging" was formulated. Under this approach, the authors have studied methods of greatly reducing the amount of large, heavy, and expensive battery. Research on non-contact inductive power supply (IPS) system has also been conducted as a way of improving charging convenience. A long-term operation test of electric buses was performed in Nagano prefecture as part of a project organized by the Japan Ministry of the Environment from 2011 to 2014. For this project the short-range frequent-charging type electric buses, "Waseda Electric Buses (WEBs)" were developed and tested on public roads to make clear the environmental performance and energy costs. WEB-3, one of the test vehicles, was driven for 41,724 km without any major problems and had advantages to reduce 28 - 42 % of CO2emissions and 57 - 64 % of energy costs, compared to conventional diesel buses. And it was estimated on Matlab simulation model that total energy consumption could be reduced by 11 % with vehicle weight reduction, modifications of drivetrain and other components.

© 2015 WEVA. Electric buses have superior environmental performance because they emit no CO2 and other exhaust gases while driving. However, in terms of more popularization of electric buses, it is essential to improve battery performance and realize user-friendliness of charging. To resolve these issues, a concept "short range running and frequent charging" was formulated. Under this approach, the authors have studied methods of greatly reducing the amount of large, heavy, and expensive battery. Research on non-contact inductive power supply (IPS) system has also been conducted as a way of improving charging convenience. A longterm operation test of electric buses was performed in Nagano prefecture as part of a project organized by the Japan Ministry of the Environment from 2011 to 2014. For this project the short-range frequentcharging type electric buses, "Waseda Electric Buses (WEBs)" were developed and tested on public roads to make clear the environmental performance and energy costs. WEB-3, one of the test vehicles, was driven for 41,724 km without any major problems and had advantages to reduce 28 - 42 % of CO2 emissions and 57 -64% of energy costs, compared to conventional diesel buses. And it was estimated on Matlab simulation model that total energy consumption could be reduced by 11 % with vehicle weight reduction, modifications of drivetrain and other components.

This paper discusses the effects of different engine control methods on vehicle performance using a compact range extender-type PHV with a series-hybrid system. Vehicle performance was analyzed and compared in detail using two typical engine control methods: the variable control method, which drives the engine in accordance with the vehicle load, and the constant control method, which drives the engine at a constant maximum load efficiency. Specifically, by evaluating the performance in both driving tests by a test vehicle and driving simulations, we identified the characteristics of each engine control method and confirmed which is superior in terms of the seven PHV performance indices determined by the Japanese Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport. The comparison results quantitatively verified that the constant control reduced engine loss but caused battery loss to increase. However, since the best control method is determined by the engine and battery loss characteristics of the target vehicle, the constant control method enables superior mileage for the vehicle examined in this research due to its large engine loss reduction effect. In our case, 7.9% improvements of the charge sustaining mode mileage FCS and 7.6% improvements of the combined mileage FPH have been achieved by adopting the constant control method.