The preference and the development of electromobility are included among the priorities of transport policies in many European countries. This article deals with the issue of electric vehicle operation from the point of view of the environmental impact of electric power production, specifically the energy effectiveness of its production by utilizing primary power production sources. Differences in the effectiveness of the conversion of mixed forms of energy into electricity and their share in the process directly affect the final level of greenhouse gases (GHG) production, and thus the ecological footprint of electric vehicle operations. The specification of energy consumption and GHG production is based on the principles of the EN 16 258: 2012 standard, which considers legislative-regulated power plant effectiveness values, statistical values of GHG emissions from electricity production, and real energy consumption values of an electric vehicle fleet. The calculation takes into account the share of primary sources and the efficiency of electricity production and effectiveness of electricity distribution in each of the evaluated countries. The specific research study is performed by comparing measured parameters for individual countries chosen from the Central Europe region. The results of the study show that the quantification of the positive environmental consequences of increasing electromobility varies greatly in different countries, which means full-scale deployment of electromobility does necessarily deliver the sustainability of transport that was expected from it.

Railway networks have different levels of development, which affects the overall transport process and integrated sustainable development. This paper presents a methodology to assess and classify the railway network performance along the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) core network corridor. The Orient–East Med corridor (OEM) has been examined. Twenty-two infrastructural, economic and technological criteria for assessment of railway transport have been proposed. The countries were ranked used multi-criteria decision making (MCDM), by applying the Sequential Interactive Modelling for Urban Systems (SIMUS). A sensitivity analysis was performed regarding each objective, and then, their allowable range of variation was determined without modifying the whole ranking of countries. The criteria weights have been determined on the basis of the output of using the SIMUS method. It was found that the main criteria for ranking the countries are: length of the connecting railway lines of the corridor in the country, length of the railway lines in the country, number of intermodal terminals, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, passengers transport performance, freight transport performance for the railway network, corridor freight usage intensity. It was found that the railway transport in the area of the OEM corridor located in Central Europe is better developed than in the Southeast European area. A cluster analysis was performed to classify countries into groups to verify the results. The results show that the eight countries included in the OEM corridor can be classified into three groups. The methodology could be used to make decisions about transport planning and improvement of the connectivity and sustainability of the railway transport, considering their development.

Diesel is the most used fuel for buses and other urban transport vehicles in European countries. This paper deals with impacts on emissions production from the operation of the urban public transport fleet after its renewal. To what extent can the renewal of the urban public transport fleet in the city of Žilina contribute to increasing environmental sustainability in the way of reducing air pollution? The vehicle fleet change has partially consisted of vehicle traction system transition-diesel buses were substituted by hybrid driven (HEV) and electric driven buses (BEV). How can the direct and indirect emissions from the operation of vehicles be calculated? These were the posed research questions. The research aimed to propose a methodology for the calculation of direct and indirect emissions. Indirect emissions values (WtT—Well-to-Tank) for different types of fuels and tractions were obtained based on regression functions. These WtT emission factors together with the existing TtW (Tank-to-Wheels) emission factors (direct emissions) can be used for the assessment of environmental impacts of specific types of vehicles concerning energy source, fuel, or powertrain and type of operation. Direct pollutants such as CO, NO_x and PM were calculated with the use of simulation methodology of HBEFA (Handbook of Emission Factors for Road Transport) software. The calculated CO₂ savings for the period 2019–2023 about fleet renewal in absolute terms are EUR 1.3 million tons compared to the operation of the original fleet while maintaining the same driving performance. The renewal of the vehicle fleet secured by vehicle traction transition can be a way to reduce the energy intensity and environmental impacts of public transport in Žilina.

Tomáš Skrúcaný, Martin Kendra, Tomáš Kalina, Martin Jurkovič, Martin Vojtek, František Synák; Original scientific paper, pp. 192-196 Download

The influence of the cargo weight loaded on the vehicle and the total gross mass of the vehicle on the braking characteristics is often researched from the road safety reason. However, there is not enough knowledge about the influence of weight and load distribution on the loading area of small trucks or vans on their braking characteristics. This article presents the results of measurements of braking decelerations of the van of N1 category and the braking characteristics of a vehicle loaded with different cargo mass with different cargo locations on the loading area. The impact of the longitudinal cargo position on the loading area on the load of the individual axles and thus on the braking deceleration of the vehicle was investigated. The influence of the height of the center of gravity on the dynamic axle load during braking was also determined. Method of direct vehicle deceleration measurement was used by a decelerometer. There were calculated cargo weight and cargo position influences on the dynamic axle load during braking according to the vehicle deceleration.