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Re: 4 hours to charge Muni battery but, or even 15 minutes on fasWhat is the economically useful operating range (car, bus, choo-choo)? Not enough for even a small local system for Pasadena apparently.....
Author: FUD
Date: 12-06-2022 - 16:33
Foothill Transit was a very early adopter, and much of what they have was, charitably, prototypes. It's probably instructive that the Proterras, for instance, that Muni is getting now, are not the the Proterras Foothill has; they're new models. And Muni is really just dipping their toe in the water with 3 buses each from 4 builders - they're moving into it slowly, as, it appears, Pasadena is planning to. I hope that Foothill got a lot of extra support from the state for being the BEB guinea pig.
Do you have any links to reviews of LA Metro's BEB program? Would be interesting to see what BYD has done for/to them.
I frequently have online flame wars with fanatics who don't see fuel-cell vehicles as practical. They are practical, for some uses, and have been for longer than battery buses have been. ARB, in its infinite wisdom, seems to have picked BEB as the way to go, though they leave the door cracked open for fuel cells.
The only thing that saves BEVs, really, is a combination of long range (for diversion options when a charging station is down) and fast charging. Yes, most of them are charged overnight at low rates (typically 7ish kw), but high-speed charging is needed too. The biggest selling point for Tesla, imo, is their widespread AND MAINTAINED network of high-speed chargers. The cars themselves are so-so and very expensive as cars go (more flame wars with the fanatics...), but the ability to charge them quickly almost everywhere wins. Urban bus systems mostly don't have that need, but suburban and long-distance operations do. And it's when you stop for "fuel" that hydrogen wins.
All that said, if Tesla has come up with a reliable 1MW charger, I could see it being useful for railroads. With something like that, you could drag into Barstow (or other servicing locations) with the "Flxdrive" battery unit running on empty, and have it ready to go again (not including inspections and topping up other supplies like sand) in perhaps as little as 15 minutes. That's competitive with hydrogen refueling of a fuel-cell unit. I want to see video of the fuel-cell train that's coming to San Berdoo being serviced - daily and running, though; I think the refueling will still be quicker than a battery unit using one of Elon's megachargers.
Do you have any links to reviews of LA Metro's BEB program? Would be interesting to see what BYD has done for/to them.
I frequently have online flame wars with fanatics who don't see fuel-cell vehicles as practical. They are practical, for some uses, and have been for longer than battery buses have been. ARB, in its infinite wisdom, seems to have picked BEB as the way to go, though they leave the door cracked open for fuel cells.
The only thing that saves BEVs, really, is a combination of long range (for diversion options when a charging station is down) and fast charging. Yes, most of them are charged overnight at low rates (typically 7ish kw), but high-speed charging is needed too. The biggest selling point for Tesla, imo, is their widespread AND MAINTAINED network of high-speed chargers. The cars themselves are so-so and very expensive as cars go (more flame wars with the fanatics...), but the ability to charge them quickly almost everywhere wins. Urban bus systems mostly don't have that need, but suburban and long-distance operations do. And it's when you stop for "fuel" that hydrogen wins.
All that said, if Tesla has come up with a reliable 1MW charger, I could see it being useful for railroads. With something like that, you could drag into Barstow (or other servicing locations) with the "Flxdrive" battery unit running on empty, and have it ready to go again (not including inspections and topping up other supplies like sand) in perhaps as little as 15 minutes. That's competitive with hydrogen refueling of a fuel-cell unit. I want to see video of the fuel-cell train that's coming to San Berdoo being serviced - daily and running, though; I think the refueling will still be quicker than a battery unit using one of Elon's megachargers.
