In 1976, the Urban Mass Transportation Administration established the present program--Study of Flywheel Energy Storage--to determine the practicality and viability of flywheel propulsion systems for urban mass transit vehicles. The study began with a review of the U.S. transit properties requirements, which showed that the most suitable vehicle for deployment of flywheel propulsion is the full-size transit bus. Several propulsion concepts were hypothesized and subjected to comparative analysis with present diesel buses, trolley coaches, and battery buses in regard to performance and life-cycle economics. This screening resulted in the establishment of the following basic concepts that can provide various types of high quality transit service: Pure flywheel propelled bus; flywheel/diesel engine hybrid bus; flywheel-augmented trolley coach; and flywheel/battery hybrid bus. The design studies that were conducted for the four propulsion configurations then showed a high degree of commonality of components among the four concepts. Final life-cycle cost analyses showed all four concepts to be in a competitive range with present transit vehicles. Plans were then made for a Phase II development program that will result in the design, fabrication, and testing of all four propulsion configurations in full-size buses within 36 months. Volume 4 of this Phase I study describes the methodology developed to guide the life-cycle cost analysis of the flywheel propelled vehicles as compared with the three baseline vehicles.


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    Title :

    Study of Flywheel Energy Storage. Volume 4. Life-Cycle Costs


    Contributors:
    L. J. Lawson (author) / A. K. Smith (author) / G. D. Davis (author)

    Publication date :

    1977


    Size :

    110 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English