This research project addresses the challenges of current and upcoming environmental objectives aimed at reducing pollutant emissions and energy consumption while also increasing the level of sustainability of the public transport in the Republic of Slovenia. Future EU objectives, which are implemented into directives and obligations on national levels will only be achieved by implementation of a sufficient number of ambitious measures on state levels of EU member states. The objectives concerning traffic will need to simultaneously address the goals of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, emissions of toxic pollutants and energy consumption in all traffic sectors, with the public transportation sector playing a vital role.

The research project will prepare the expert documents, design a database and develop a vehicle simulation model for the calculation of the energy and environmental footprint with an aim to support optimization of the implementation of the public transport service by adressing the current and upcoming national and european environmental objectives. The project consists of 6 interlinked, sequentially organized, work packages enabling a holistic and structured approach for designing methods and tools supporting optimized transitioning to alternative powertrain technologies and energy vectors in the system of the public transportation sector.

The project is divided into 6 working packages with the following goals:

1.            Overview of the current status in the traffic sector in terms of consumption of fossil fuels, gasseous fuels, renewables and electricity followed by an evaluation of pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions and charging infrastructure in the Republic of Slovenia.

2.            Devise a methodology for evaluating energy and environmental footprint of vehicles followed by an execution of real-word measurements in realistic traffic conditions with a portable emission measurement system on vehicles intended for public transportation. 

3.            Development of a structured empirically-based multidimensional database aiding to determine pollutant emission and energy consumption of modern vehicles used in the public transportation system in the Republic of Slovenia with respect to the drive cycle.

4.            Design a simulation tool with the structured empirically-based multidimensional database serving as inputs to determine pollutant emission, greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption of various powertrain technologies and energy vectors.

5.            Transfer of knowhow and the developed simulation tool to relevant parties involved in the evaluation of current measures to meet future EU and national environmental targets and cost calculations in the transport sector in Slovenia.

6.            a.) An analysis execution of the impact of the deployment of vehicles with different powertrains on the achievement of the objectives in accordance with existing national and European legislation, strategies, resolutions and plans, which are updated accordingly throughout the project. b.) Evaluate an impact on pollutant emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and the economics of different powertrains and renewable fuels in the public transportation system.

The results of the project address all the objectives of the topic and are a key building block for supporting implementation of the public passenger transport in the Republic of Slovenia and for supporting decision-making processes with the aim of achieving future national and European environmental goals, taking into account the economic aspect of the transition to alternative powertrains and fuels.