Optimizing Electric Buses Routes by Monitoring Local Air Quality

The introduction of electric buses in Kolkata required planning the routes of greatest impact as well as the convenience of being within reasonable proximity to charging stations. The environmental impact required a study of hyperlocal fluctuations in air quality, especially in particulate matter across the city. For this purpose, custom low-cost air quality monitors were designed and manufactured, and calibrated by co-locating with reference grade sensors maintained by the Pollution Control Board. These sensors were placed at select locations across the city and their data was continuously captured in the cloud for over one year. Along with the information obtained from the network of reference-grade sensors, we developed a spatio- temporal dispersion model to interpolate and map the pollution levels across the city. Fluctuations and hotspots identified from this result were overlayed with the previously modeled demand to select the first two high-impact electric bus routes in the city.