There's already a gadget for that. The 2.1MWh Porsche portable charging station.
What I consider clever, about that promotional item, is we're never shown a picture of what hauls that trailer around :-) I'm betting the hauler is diesel powered...
Paul
Actually, yes.
And quantum cryptography.
Did you know that you can't even change a battery pack, without a special ceremony, a priest, and a small sacrificial animal ?
The battery pack is "married" to the car, electronically. The car won't run, if you "just stick any olde battery pack in it". Presumably intended to send back yard mechanics into a spin.
Battery pack - electronic ID. Car - electronic ID. Charger - electronic ID.
Road tax ? A doddle. Look at the electronic trail these leave behind.
Even your "home" charger will have an ID, and you'll be given a preferential lekky rate... if only you plug in that network cable on it. This is to encourage "flex charging" behavior, where in a power emergency, all the recharging cars can be cut loose from the grid at once.
Whether it's GPS, or 5G comms, your car leaks six ways from Sunday, from an electronic ID perspective. Everyone and his dog will know where you're driving. When you take a crap, it will have an electronic ID (chipped poo).
Paul
The original article listed various 50kW chargers that failed to work, but the manufacturer's website says "It can be charged with either a
60Kwh, 90Kwh or 120Kwh DC charger"
Only partially correct. Although trams were awkward, requiring rails sunk level with the road surface to run on (I do not know if it was only apocryphal that bicycle wheels got stuck in the gaps), trolleybuses were an excellent form of transport. I can just remember trams in London, as they ended in 1952. Trolleybuses were around for another 10 years (they started in 1931). I could choose to travel on a trolleybus or ICE-bus for the 3-mile trip to school near the city of London. I preferred a trolleybus, as they were faster and a lot quieter. They also carried many more passengers than ICE buses - 70 vs 56 seats. Trolleys could move in or out of lanes, and depending on the routes, sometimes the conductor didn't even need to get off to "change the points" if the trolley needed to turn. I had a few journeys where the trolley connector jumped off the wire. It took a few seconds for the conductor to pull a long bamboo pole from under the bus and push the connector back onto the wire. If the trolleybus had moved out of range due to momentum, it simply ran on its batteries until it was back in range again and reconnection could take place.
I think that one other reason was the proposed move to driver-only buses without a conductor which, of course, saved money. As mentioned above, the latter was required to change the points of trolleybuses at some junctions, so trolleybuses could never become driver-only unless a "non-junction" route was planned.
But why did some places reintroduce them, such as the tram system in Croydon?
I can speak from personal experience that mini wheels could become 'held' by tram rails in Brussels. This was circa 1963. It took considerable effort to turn the steering wheel far enough for the front wheels to get a grip and pull the car out of the path of the fast-approaching and horn-hooting tram. It was a close thing!
Our demo device, the "test run" operates for four hours a day. Implying you buy six buses to get 24-hour service.
If the demo run represented a practical usage pattern for the bus (ran all day), I think that would be better public relations.
We'd need those batteries the scientists in Israel made (the five-minute charge-up ones), to improve the appearance of practicality. You would need one hell of a substation, where they charge. Maybe even a battery bank, to give the desired characteristic.
Paul
Mini wheels were so small it was easy for them to get stuck against a high kerb. I had to help out a couple of nuns who got stuck that way (using brute force).
no. Bus runs for 4 hours, 8 hours off (charging) and back in service. That's
3 buses. If it charged in less than 4 hours, you'd only need 2 buses.
Yes, it may be that it doesn't work with 50kW DC rapid chargers, which are the more basic rapid chargers out there. Maybe it only supports DC charging, and not slower AC charging that charge points would fall back to. (it would take about 4 days to charge from a 13A socket).
A fleet operator is going to have installed the right charging point on their premises, rather than relying on public car charging points.
As they become more common, I'd expect coach and HGV specific charge points to be installed at motorway services and the like.
Theo
It's not an electric socket, it's a variable voltage switching power supply in some cases capable of delivering up to half a megawatt. I would very much hope there is some software in there keeping an eye on things.
Theo
Trams were inflexible, trolley buses much less so. Trams can't overtake each other, and if a car breaks down on teh rails, the tram is stuffed. A trolley can go past obstacles, and if a trolley breaks down, then one wishing to pass using the same lines can be unhooked from it, and can go past using its battery. Then it's rehooked and continues on.
I probably didn't explain it right.
The company takes the unit out of service when they don't have to.
It's emphatically *not* a demonstration of charging prowess. The demo run they have set up is more "tourist" than practical. It's probably an attempt at an "operator shift", which is four hours.
The way bus drivers are abused here, is we have the quaint notion of an eight hour work day. However, bus drivers are required to work two four hour shifts within a 12 hour window. Thus you could work for four hours, be off (and do exactly what, with your four hours), then be on for four hours.
The four hours the bus is operated per day, looks to be a "shift". There is a partial recharge part way through the shift.
I don't know what this is intended to demonstrate, other than give riders a chance to ride on an electric bus.
In any case, it's not conventional bus service, not like demos in the past.
When the first two diesels showed up here, to replace our tramway in my previous city, those buses immediately were in full service, running 22-hour days. They were clean and shiny and doing demos for the whole day, so a person could say, at 10PM at night "this is what it'll be like when we have two hundred of these things".
Whereas the Toronto run at the moment, who can say what people are seeing. They're getting a ride on a shiny bus, and that's about all we can say about the experience gained.
The Touring Electric Coach in your example, is Lithium Iron Phosphate. If it had been Lithium Cobalt, it could likely have made the entire trip with what it got before it left. At first, I was impressed with the sheer number of battery packs it has (some in the ceiling), but then the line in the spec said Lithium Iron, which is currently the Chinese favorite. The Chinese version of the Tesla Model 3 is also Lithium Iron, and those have a higher charge cycle count, but may be less impressive on energy density (as those are the same batteries used in fairy lights). I've not seen a statement attributed to the Chinese, as to what this choice means exactly. They don't want Cobalt mined ? Or what ? But they seem to be filling things within their reach, with Lithium Iron.
Paul
So is it a "Touring" electric coach or not ?
The advertising mentions that the company has a charger depot design of its own, which suggests they wanted to capitalize on "keeping it all in the family" so to speak.
Whereas if I was running coaches between major cities, or if I was running coaches as cheap holiday opportunities, then having standard (roadside) capable charge infrastructure would make more sense.
Doing it the "private charger way", is semi-great for city service.
You can charter our city transit buses for private events, and we'd used them on occasion here. Sometimes they would be going outside of the area - which would be bad if you needed to charge in the electric bus case. The city bus service didn't try to go too far outside its domain, so they must have had some rules regarding hours the driver could work or whatever.
The cynic in me, assumes this "demo" run, was all about getting stuck, and getting a bit of the wrong kind of free publicity. They weren't exactly Boy Scouts and "didn't take extra cells for their Flashlights". I would have filled the bus with cord wood and brought a box of matches, in preparation for a breakdown.
Or you could do like our military here did at one time. The vehicles were old, so when they would do a convoy on the highway, the lead vehicle was a tow truck, and the last vehicle in the convoy was a tow truck. When you would see them on the road, you would know immediately whose armed forces that was :-) Occasionally the convoy would be moving again, and one of the tow trucks would have one of the vehicles on the hook. Now, that's how a Boy Scout travels - be prepared. Maybe the Bus Tour, they couldn't find an electric tow truck for the event ?
Paul
I went looking for pictures of the internals of chargers:
Some internals here, although not very clear:
I can't see the Tesla internals clearly enough in this picture:
This is our steel-encased trolley. You won't find any aluminium on there. I only remember this, because of my surprise when the new diesel buses made extensive usage of aluminium.
Two electrical poles, able to swing at an angle. The winders for the cotton rope guides are on the back.
Vehicle can pull up to curb, to let passenger on.
No provision for the handicapped (driver lift on wheelchair or helper, no bus-lowering features or flip-down ramps). I don't think handicapped people existed back then :-/ I've had rides on the main line here, where practically every person getting on around noon, was handicapped.
Two person, bench seats facing forward inside. No "creative" seating arrangements like today.
And the bell to get off, was just a bell. No electricals. I don't think the bell could be disabled, like it can on a modern diesel bus.
The exit from the bus, had an electrical contact underneath. When you stepped onto the step, the door would open. It may have been gated by a manual control next to the driver. As these things go, that's one part of it I would rate as "excellent". The modern buses certainly work, but they're a bit more "grumpy and ill-mannered".
Paul
What a ridiculous state of affairs.
Bill
The broken down one was always unhooked to allow other to pass.
Bill
I'd have thought it would be relatively easy to hire a portable generator on wheels. I've seen them about a lot for when major power outages occur. More to the story than might otherwise be assumed?
Brian
One extra thought, if the chargers fit, I see no reason for this problem. Chargers can easily run to their capacity and not be overloaded, so we are left with, fault in the software either in the bus or the charging system. If it is known that a certain type of charger does work, something which good research should be able to find out then the above is obviously the solution. Instead of moaning the companies involved need to get their heads together and find out the solution, just whinging on about it, will simply put off prospective buyers of electric vehicles. The problem is also of course that in no way is Electric carbon neutral. That electricity has to be generated and at the moment only Solar would be online as there is little wind about, hence other fossil fuels will need to be used as well.
I'm leaving aside the issues of battery construction and the like here. Brian
My maternal grandfather was killed when he got his bike's wheels into the gap - I don't know the other details though, such as if it was a tram or another vehicle passing. My father, after checking that there was nothing around, managed to cycle about 200 yds. up a hill with his wheels in the gap.
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