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Do Londoners dream of electric buses?
- neolefty 8y agoTFA has great practical information about the switch from diesel to battery. A few examples: * How do you arrange parked buses in a garage so that they can charge? Diagrams included! * Purchase cost: 2x up front compared to diesel, but improving * Operating cost: 50% lower than diesel (but labor—hiring the driver—is still 60%)
- lallysingh 8y agoAny comparison of noise generated by these buses? Of changes in the on-time rate due to changed handling/acceleration? How much smoke did the diesels put out?
- icebraining 8y agoThe noise inside the bus seems quite annoying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEKJSMqhYKk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEKJSMqhYKk
- Tade0 8y agoI've been in one of these. The noise is noticeable but not nearly as offensive as a diesel bus engine revving. Also there's no idling that would normally cause vibrations.
- Reason077 8y agoYes, it's a much more relaxing ride compared to a diesel bus. Smooth and quiet. The noise seems to be exaggerated somewhat in that video - in real life it's pretty subtle.
- jeffwass 8y agoNo inclusion of the knock-on benefits of NHS savings from fewer cases of diesel exhaust complications.
- gascan 8y agoYeah, but that comes out of someone else's budget, so who cares right?
- jdavis703 8y agoWhat if having people die early from diesel fumes winds up saving NHS more money though [0]? 0: https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/18/news/tobacco-giants-analysis-says-premature-deaths-cut-costs-in-pensions-and.html https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/18/news/tobacco-giants-analy...
- woodandsteel 8y agoIn discussing the economics, the article neglected to mention the huge reduction in maintenance costs.
- londons_explore 8y agoI wonder if it is that big? Your car maintenance you'll typically spend 4 hours for an annual service, at $50 per hour. Total: $200 A bus in a depot uses in house staff ($25 per hour), and since all the busses are identical and they're probably performing the same service on 5 at a time, probably only works out to an hour per bus. Total cost $25. Thats so small compared to the salary of the driver who drives it around normally, maintenance cost might not be a significant part of the equation.
- markatkinson 8y agoAnd tall white fountains?
- tom_ 8y agoMost interesting part of the article for me: > and being of considerable utility, they are remarkably undamaged. It seems that sticking chewing gum in things only applies when the vandal feels they wont personally lose out (assuming this is actually true, and not another in a long local tradition of overly rose-tinted journalistic views of our grim North Sea shithole)
- 1ba9115454 8y ago- grim North Sea shithole Spend some time in other coutries and you'll yearn to return. Trust me.
- ben_w 8y agoFour months continuous in Germany, only reason I came back was mum’s Alzheimer’s getting to the point of needing more care than my family and inlaws could provide themselves. When she gets too bad for me to be of any use, I’m off again. I’ll miss chips and the NHS. I’ll miss my friends. I won’t miss the country — especially not in the current toxic political situation.
- superflyguy 8y agoOh yes. My trips to countries such as Thailand, Italy, Holland, Japan, Denmark, the US (Pittsburgh, LA, NY) and Spain can never end quickly enough. The thought occurs to me that you've only visited France and whatever they're calling Czechoslovakia this year.
- detritus 8y agoWhereas as someone who spends quite a lot of time each year in Spain and Italy, and dearly love both; have family in one and a partner from the other - we are both quite glad to return to Britain after a few weeks away. She, particularly, sees the downsides of her home country quite quickly. I have a bit more tolerance, but there're elements of a certain flavour of society missed. For us, anyway. Oh, and I visited Czechia (whatever) for the first time last year and was smitten... but I was only there for a couple of weeks. Not really enough time to form any useful - or, indeed, completely useless - comparisons. /anecdata
- martinald 8y agoInteresting about getting sufficient power supplies in. 2.5MW is a lot.
- wffurr 8y agoThey overprovisioned, and never actually got close to that in practice.
- nothrabannosir 8y ago> Londoners might not dream of electric buses, … Every single cyclist dreams of electric busses, believe you me. Huffing nitrogen stationary-bus-fart oxides turns any public road here straight into an express lane to lung cancer, without even the courtesy of a nicotine rush. I laugh when people say cycling is healthy. Not in London. Nooo sir. Between the long term certainty of whatever smokers like to aim for, and the short term gamble of “brain-on-asphalt syndrome”, it’s a bloody joke. Electric busses can’t rule the streets soon enough.
- albertgoeswoof 8y agoIs there any research to back up your claim? What are the chances of getting cancer from this? Is there even a direct link? Is it better in aggregate to be an unfit bus rider or a fit cyclist?
- ditn 8y agoThere's actually the opposite evidence; it's worse to be in a vehicle than walk or cycle, and there's a few studies that say that the benefits of cycling outweigh the pollution exposure. http://www.breathelondon.org/south-east/project/modes-transport http://www.breathelondon.org/south-east/project/modes-transp...
- Reason077 8y agoMost smart people driving in London are going to leave their car's climate control on the "recirculate" setting whenever possible. That gives you a more-or-less closed environment, running cabin air back through the car's filters rather than sucking in dirty air from the street. But cyclists and pedestrians have no such luxury - they're breathing in the filth whenever they're on, or near, a busy road.
- kaybe 8y agoIf you only have a paper filter that won't help at all.
- melling 8y agoChina is adding electric buses at an incredible rate. Every 5 weeks China adds a London sized fleet of electric buses: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/04/china-is-adding-a-london-sized-electric-bus-fleet-every-five-weeks/ https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/04/china-is-adding-a-lon... https://www.curbed.com/2018/5/4/17320838/china-bus-shenzhen-electric-bus-transportation https://www.curbed.com/2018/5/4/17320838/china-bus-shenzhen-...
- michaelbuckbee 8y agoThe Curbed article states that in Shenzen half a percent of the bus fleet is still diesel, but that half percent contributes 20% of the pollution. Can't wait for more electrics.
- chris_va 8y agoA key difference is that diesel can “recharge” a bus in a matter of minutes, so buses simply queue up at a pump and then drive off. With electric, it takes a few hours overnight, so they had to install a long line of charging points right down the middle of the garage. ... Anyone here know why swappable batteries haven't taken off for fleets?
- tim333 8y agoI get the impression it's been complicated to swap the batteries and have the fleet on compatible batteries. Ashok Leyland of India are launching one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of3Au0fIMjQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of3Au0fIMjQ
- dalore 8y agoWould also make sense to help when the batteries start to wear out as mentioned. And swappable batteries could help a stuck bus out if it accidentally has a faulty battery that drained too fast. Makes sense in many aspects.
- htgb 8y agoIn Gothenburg, where Volvo is increasing the trials of electric buses, there are charging stations at the end of lines. So the bus charges roughly 10 minutes, twice per round trip. As an aside, riding them is very nice -- the noise level is very low. The project: https://www.electricitygoteborg.se/en https://www.electricitygoteborg.se/en
- detritus 8y agoA peripheral benefit of electrified buses would be regenerative braking. I've lost count of the amount of times that grubby, dusty brake pads have led to screeching that makes me feel like my ears are about to bleed, when buses have come to a standstill beside me. I once even wrote to TFL about the problem, weird little man that I am. Never received a response.
- telchar 8y agoYou're not the only one bothered by that. I find school buses and small delivery vehicles to be the worst on that, given the frequent stops and starts and minimal maintenance they receive. The city buses here are marginally better but not by much.
- cylinder 8y agoThis drove me insane with poorly maintained NYC taxis and buses too.
- keithpeter 8y agoJust down the road from Waterloo Travelodge which is quiet, cheap and a good base for central London explorations should anyone be visiting. While in that part of the Great Wen, don't miss Roupell Street around 5pm.
- olivermarks 8y agohttps://www.energy-uk.org.uk/energy-industry/electricity-generation.html https://www.energy-uk.org.uk/energy-industry/electricity-gen...
- hiharryhere 8y agoI live on the 153 route in Islington which was recently converted to these BYD all electric buses. It's fantastic. In a quiet residential area they are nearly silent and when I cycle by them on the way work there's no fumes. The strangest thing is when you ride them you hear every seat rattle and squeak because there's no roaring engine to drown it out.