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London buses spend a lot of time stopped at bus stops. I wonder if it would ever make sense to install a 500kW pantograph charger at each stop to give 3-4 minut
by jl6 2y ago
London buses spend a lot of time stopped at bus stops. I wonder if it would ever make sense to install a 500kW pantograph charger at each stop to give 3-4 minutes of top up.
- jdsnape 2y agoIsn’t that just half a tram?
- jl6 2y agoMuch less than half as it avoids the need for continuous rails.
- lttlrck 2y agoThere are rail-less bus systems running on pantographs. I guess that's still less than half though.
- dpkirchner 2y agoWith a ton more flexibility, sure.
- scrlk 2y agoEverything old is new again: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolleybus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolleybus London once had the world's largest system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolleybuses_in_London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolleybuses_in_London
- chx 2y agoHungary, Budapest has been running battery augment trolleybuses since 2005. They are super handy if you need to divert them for any reason and also it allows for more flexible routing but their range is quite limited, only 4km. They also experimented with a few electric buses and that also had range problems but much more importantly they realized if they had hundreds of buses charging overnight it would be a significant strain on the electricity system. Distributing the buses throughout the system and their charging in time by charging them at stops would be a solution to this.
- lttlrck 2y agoThis exists: https://global.abb/group/en/technology/did-you-know/pantograph-charging https://global.abb/group/en/technology/did-you-know/pantogra...
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- kees99 2y ago500kW charger has non-trivial size and cost. Even a 60kW unit [0] looks to be pretty large and listed as "call us for price". [0] https://www.heliox-energy.com/us-products/60-kw-dc-charger https://www.heliox-energy.com/us-products/60-kw-dc-charger
- jl6 2y agoPerhaps amortize the size/cost by combining the bus stop with a charging rack for e-scooters/e-bikes. Might be a bit cheaper per unit if you buy 19,000 of them (one for each London bus stop).
- throw0101c 2y ago> London buses spend a lot of time stopped at bus stops. A lot of cars spend a lot of time stopped at traffic lights and often stopped/crawling in traffic, and it's probably why start-stop mechanisms can really improve fuel efficiency. Engineering Explained with "Americans Have No Idea How Much Fuel Idling Uses": * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFImHhNwbJo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFImHhNwbJo
- sschueller 2y agoThis doesn't always make sense. In Zürich Switzerland the calculation was done between placing charging systems at end terminals or at the central garage (where busses park over night). It was determined that a central garage charging setup is better because the time the bus spends at the end station may get shortened significantly in order to keep the bus on schedule. So charging time would be very irregular. Also to get the power infrastructure to those locations is very costly compared to a central location. The new battery bus fleet in Zürich can run for about half a day and then return to the central garage. Future buses are expected to become more efficient and have larger batteries so the central charging setup makes sense. The central garage has a fast charging setup for 74 busses underground. It is a very impressive setup.
- jl6 2y agoYou’re probably right.
- rsynnott 2y agoNah. Per the article, this has a range of 400 miles; London buses normally do 1-200 per day.