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> Why not something you drive over and it self-guides itself to make contact with multiple contact-points beneath the car Real life. That's why. How is your m

> Why not something you drive over and it self-guides itself to make contact with multiple contact-points beneath the car Real life. That's why. How is your magical drive-over contact widget going to work after a few years of rain, mud, grit and other wear and tear and abuse ? I would put my money on the "not very well" part of the board. The benefit of the plug-in method is that the connector is stowed away from ground level, away from the elements, in a sheltered position. Edit to add: Also I'm not an electrician, but there could be a little issue of arcing and other issues when it comes to high voltage / high amperage. Have you ever seen an electric train arcing in wet weather ? Imagine being stood right next to that !

nuccy 5y ago
There are EV busses made by ABB in collaboration with other local companies, e.g. TOSA in Geneva [1]. They charge on few stops on the route for some sub-minute (15-30s) periods and can operate the whole day without charging for longer stationary. The contact pads are hidden from weather, so the busses operate all year round for few years already. 1. https://youtu.be/fm3_N4Js3Nw https://youtu.be/fm3_N4Js3Nw
- bradfa 5y ago
  That's really cool! It's not really something which could be deployed to general purpose personal vehicles, since they come in many shapes and sizes, but it's great to see such an idea executed for buses which seems like a great place for it.
- MisterTea 5y ago
  Buses are highly predictable compared to a plethora of different automobiles driven by highly unpredictable humans.
  - fouc 5y ago
    At least until self-driving kicks in
  - 542354234235 5y ago
    Also, drivers are employees and can be/are specifically trained on how to operate the vehicle. That can’t be expected for consumer level systems.
blueflow 5y ago
For the arcing: Search the video platform of your choice for "Bügelfeuer".
kylegordon 5y ago
HV systems for trains are made safe by separation. HV systems for close quarters use are made safe by technology. The HV plug for your car could easily be wet as well, but it's made safe by having a signal wire and intelligence before it powers up or down. For busses, Alstom have already got a ground based charging system, built upon their years of ground based power for trams. https://www.alstom.com/our-solutions/infrastructure/srs-innovative-safe-and-automatic-charging-trams-and-electric-buses https://www.alstom.com/our-solutions/infrastructure/srs-inno...
jacquesm 5y ago
True, but an electric train uses a very large amount of power, compared to charging up an EV in any configuration that's likely not going to be the major issue, besides that there is plenty of time in a charging situation to figure out the parameters of the vehicle, humidity, ideal voltage/amperage combination and so on. Whereas for a train track/overhead wiring situation the voltage is simply always there, and there is no simple way to regulate the power delivered to what is actually required. In fact the opposite: the overhead system has to be able to deliver power to multiple locs on the same segment at once due to push/pull trains.

nuccy 5y ago

There are EV busses made by ABB in collaboration with other local companies, e.g. TOSA in Geneva [1]. They charge on few stops on the route for some sub-minute (15-30s) periods and can operate the whole day without charging for longer stationary. The contact pads are hidden from weather, so the busses operate all year round for few years already. 1. https://youtu.be/fm3_N4Js3Nw https://youtu.be/fm3_N4Js3Nw

bradfa 5y ago
That's really cool! It's not really something which could be deployed to general purpose personal vehicles, since they come in many shapes and sizes, but it's great to see such an idea executed for buses which seems like a great place for it.
MisterTea 5y ago
Buses are highly predictable compared to a plethora of different automobiles driven by highly unpredictable humans.
- fouc 5y ago
  At least until self-driving kicks in
- 542354234235 5y ago
  Also, drivers are employees and can be/are specifically trained on how to operate the vehicle. That can’t be expected for consumer level systems.

blueflow 5y ago

For the arcing: Search the video platform of your choice for "Bügelfeuer".

kylegordon 5y ago

HV systems for trains are made safe by separation. HV systems for close quarters use are made safe by technology. The HV plug for your car could easily be wet as well, but it's made safe by having a signal wire and intelligence before it powers up or down. For busses, Alstom have already got a ground based charging system, built upon their years of ground based power for trams. https://www.alstom.com/our-solutions/infrastructure/srs-innovative-safe-and-automatic-charging-trams-and-electric-buses https://www.alstom.com/our-solutions/infrastructure/srs-inno...

jacquesm 5y ago

True, but an electric train uses a very large amount of power, compared to charging up an EV in any configuration that's likely not going to be the major issue, besides that there is plenty of time in a charging situation to figure out the parameters of the vehicle, humidity, ideal voltage/amperage combination and so on. Whereas for a train track/overhead wiring situation the voltage is simply always there, and there is no simple way to regulate the power delivered to what is actually required. In fact the opposite: the overhead system has to be able to deliver power to multiple locs on the same segment at once due to push/pull trains.