A funny twist of irony for the EV haters - city bus & fire truck content.

[imwjl]

We are having a snow storm. My kids just reported the new EV busses doing better than the diesel busses. My daughter witnessed a diesel bus not make it up a hill, go sideways, and the electric went around it with ease. The kid who rides one in the morning made it to class on time. He often points out how they also control traffic lights. In an earlier post I've reported realizing you get across town faster behind those buses.

We also have the first electric fire truck in service for more than year which contradicts some recent news on the LA fire department finally having their Rosenbauer truck running. The Pierce/Oshkosh started service in June of '21 and so far operates with a very noticeable lack of controversy.

With a whole lot of use behind these vehicles now, they remain free of controversy and problems. More buses are on order because they are doing well.

 

[bgmacaw]

first electric fire truck

You know what this means...

 

[imwjl]

You know what this means...

View attachment 1060009

Yes, but it is fun to observe the huge gap between TDPRI John's imagination and reality.

 

[Nicko_Lps]

Cool story but i aint driving an RC car or even a diesel. GAS for me till im dead or until it costs 5 euro per Liter(not gallon)

 

[tele_savales]

There's a whole bunch of variables with buses which determine their handling capabilities in normal and winter conditions ie, whether they're a puller or a pusher, whether they have automatic or hard chains in use, etc. Having a giant battery array over a rear mounted engine might help but sort of doubtful.

 

[tele_savales]

Buses control traffic lights now? Only the electric ones, though? Seriously?

 

[BigDaddyLH]

I remember the stank of riding in a diesel bus

 

[beyer160]

Who hates EV? The RE series mics are fantastic!

 

[maxvintage]

Cool story but i aint driving an RC car or even a diesel. GAS for me till im dead or until it costs 5 euro per Liter(not gallon)

Everybody picks a hill to die on. "I will never drive an EV!" Say what you want, at least it's an ethos.

 

[blowtorch]

sometimes the hill picks you

 

[maxvintage]

When flesh eating zombies have taken over the world and we are all living in mud huts, then you'll wish you had gas powered buses!!

 

[Nicko_Lps]

Everybody picks a hill to die on.

Precisely!

When flesh eating zombies have taken over the world and we are all living in mud huts, then you'll wish you had gas powered buses!!

Nah... They wont eat humans! We have people to protest atrocities and the zombies will be vegan and EV fans as well

 

[imwjl]

Buses control traffic lights now? Only the electric ones, though? Seriously?

Yes, seriously. My kids say the ones assigned to express routes and BRT (bus rapid transit) have this feature. AFAIK it is as simple as same system first responders have.

It is an element in our metro area extensive plan to improve matters for all forms of transit, and suspected it a good while ago. I noticed the better flow of rush hour traffic on the main thoroughfares if you are behind a bus, and shorter green lights when you are on a side street to them. It cuts down on green lights for no one.

When flesh eating zombies have taken over the world and we are all living in mud huts, then you'll wish you had gas powered buses!!

Before that will probably be missing the hundreds of millions of tons of ammonia we make from oil to sustain how 8 billion people can eat. TDPRI John might be more upset from what that does to the supply of beef and white bread than anything else.

 

[imwjl]

There's a whole bunch of variables with buses which determine their handling capabilities in normal and winter conditions ie, whether they're a puller or a pusher, whether they have automatic or hard chains in use, etc. Having a giant battery array over a rear mounted engine might help but sort of doubtful.

The hybrid and EV buses seem to have more weight over the front axle. Maybe there is traction control the old school engines and automatic transmissions don't have.

My main point is a whole bunch of arm chair directors are certain the overall transport strategy and new vehicles can't work but evidence keeps showing that is not so. Some of them don't trust that evidence so it was entertaining to me to get text messages from the kids in it this morning.

We recently got the 3rd of 3 kids taking the buses more because express times are faster door to door from the lack of parking. They also study or work while riding the buses.

 

[bobio]

We are having a snow storm. My kids just reported the new EV busses doing better than the diesel busses. My daughter witnessed a diesel bus not make it up a hill, go sideways, and the electric went around it with ease. The kid who rides one in the morning made it to class on time. He often points out how they also control traffic lights. In an earlier post I've reported realizing you get across town faster behind those buses.

We also have the first electric fire truck in service for more than year which contradicts some recent news on the LA fire department finally having their Rosenbauer truck running. The Pierce/Oshkosh started service in June of '21 and so far operates with a very noticeable lack of controversy.

With a whole lot of use behind these vehicles now, they remain free of controversy and problems. More buses are on order because they are doing well.

The Proterra ZX5 Electric Transit Bus | Proterra

Electric buses have become more efficient than ever with the Proterra ZX5 electric bus, the next evolution in zero-emission transit.

www.proterra.com

Built locally and they are used all over the state in public transportation and school districts.

Pictured below is a Clemson Area Transit hub, pictured is about half of the buses that run out of this hub and they are ALL electric.



Greenville's transit system is called Greenlink and they are running 40 Proterra electric buses and purchasing more.

 

[MarkieMark]

Yes, but it is fun to observe the huge gap between TDPRI John's imagination and reality.

I can imagine that.
Really!

 

[MarkieMark]

The E-Buses that I see go by my workplace every day also point out that they charge cordlessly.
Leaving me mildly curious.

It works. I just don't know details.

And I will remind all that I was a skeptic, before I started driving and inspecting them. (EV's) I was quickly converted into seeing that it is at worst a transitional option. There are many pros and few cons in my corner of the world.

Things are changing, whether we open mindedly become informed and explore the options or get dragged kicking and screaming. Change still happens.

 

[imwjl]

The Proterra ZX5 Electric Transit Bus | Proterra

Electric buses have become more efficient than ever with the Proterra ZX5 electric bus, the next evolution in zero-emission transit.

www.proterra.com

Built locally and they are used all over the state.

View attachment 1060024

My understanding is we have an earlier purchase of Proterra, and more recent purchase of New Flyer. There was strong local resistance to the Chinese owned bus maker.

The E-Buses that I see go by my workplace every day also point out that they charge cordlessly.
Leaving me mildly curious.

One of the makers has a schema like one's phone can charge wirelessly.

In our city the idea of the bus transfer points has not worked out so well but I think that charge schema is coming to the future end points of the BRT system.

 

[GGardner]

Stupid me. I saw the thread title and thought the OP was going to link to a news article about how Eddie Van Halen or Sammy Hagar quietly donated thousands of bucks to public transportation and fire companies. I need my afternoon coffee.

 

[Strat Jacket]

I have no issues with an electric bus or taxi. Just don't tell me I have to own one.