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Re: Of the 385,000 electric buses worldwide, 99% of them are in China
Author: Max Wyss
Date: 12-30-2018 - 04:24
Switches in the overhead lines are a bit of an issue, agreed; they will simply require decent maintenance. Operational advantages would come by changing the (albeit very simple) control system from current-dependent to an independent inductive system, maybe even with line coding, so that the driver does normally not even have to bother about the switchwork.
The big advantage of a powerful battery in the trolleybus is that really complex squares can be built without overhead wiring. Lowering and raising the poles is no big deal anymore; lowering anyways; that could be done even while moving, and raising has been known technology for decades. This does considerably lower the investment cost, and makes the trolleybus solution all of a sudden a very good deal.
Fire risks must not be neglected. However, one of the components for a fire to spread is made relatively rare in a electric bus-only garage: fuel. That means that even if a fire breaks out, it would be restricted to a small place for some time, allowing it to get under control before it gets bad.
Just FWIW, just about a good month ago, the voters of the Swiss city of St.Gallen approved with 75% Yes a credit of 35 million Francs (about the same in $) for renewal and extension of the trolleybus fleet, plus a network extension.
What do they get with that amount of money?
The current trolleybus network is 23 km long. By adding 7 km of new wiring (at a cost of a bit more than 9 million francs; about 1.3 million per km), they can extend the electrically operated network to almost 60 km!! Of the 3 lines to be converted, about 45% of their length will be operated on battery.
A first batch of current 18 m (single articulated) trolleybuses will be replaced with 6 BTB of the same size, costing about 1.1 million Francs apiece, and in addition to that, 11 new 24 m (double articulated) BTB, costing about 1.5 million Francs apiece will be used on the new lines.
The prices are based on what other Swiss operators currently pay for similar vehicles from premium suppliers (Hess with ABB), which will very likely get the St. Gallen order.
Overall, this is a very good deal, and, at least for San Francisco, similar numbers could be achieved. Interestingly, the technical operating costs (not including drivers etc.) of the BTB are a bit lower than straight trolleybuses, because they use less energy. On the other hand, Opportunity charging (a few minutes at the end points) or Flash charging (less than a minute at intervals) vehicles cost way more, because of the additionally needed infrastructure.
The big advantage of a powerful battery in the trolleybus is that really complex squares can be built without overhead wiring. Lowering and raising the poles is no big deal anymore; lowering anyways; that could be done even while moving, and raising has been known technology for decades. This does considerably lower the investment cost, and makes the trolleybus solution all of a sudden a very good deal.
Fire risks must not be neglected. However, one of the components for a fire to spread is made relatively rare in a electric bus-only garage: fuel. That means that even if a fire breaks out, it would be restricted to a small place for some time, allowing it to get under control before it gets bad.
Just FWIW, just about a good month ago, the voters of the Swiss city of St.Gallen approved with 75% Yes a credit of 35 million Francs (about the same in $) for renewal and extension of the trolleybus fleet, plus a network extension.
What do they get with that amount of money?
The current trolleybus network is 23 km long. By adding 7 km of new wiring (at a cost of a bit more than 9 million francs; about 1.3 million per km), they can extend the electrically operated network to almost 60 km!! Of the 3 lines to be converted, about 45% of their length will be operated on battery.
A first batch of current 18 m (single articulated) trolleybuses will be replaced with 6 BTB of the same size, costing about 1.1 million Francs apiece, and in addition to that, 11 new 24 m (double articulated) BTB, costing about 1.5 million Francs apiece will be used on the new lines.
The prices are based on what other Swiss operators currently pay for similar vehicles from premium suppliers (Hess with ABB), which will very likely get the St. Gallen order.
Overall, this is a very good deal, and, at least for San Francisco, similar numbers could be achieved. Interestingly, the technical operating costs (not including drivers etc.) of the BTB are a bit lower than straight trolleybuses, because they use less energy. On the other hand, Opportunity charging (a few minutes at the end points) or Flash charging (less than a minute at intervals) vehicles cost way more, because of the additionally needed infrastructure.
