Electric Vehicles

[LouderVol]

With or without rails?

Do you think in cities where electric bikes are currently used, they don't navigate around obstacles when needed?

Atlanta's streetcar has rails. they looked at a similar "bus" option with no rails and it was even more expensive.

the electric bikes aren't mass transportation, nor are they tethered. not sure I see the parallel you are drawing to make.

 

[NorthDallas40]

the atlanta streetcar is exactly that. it relies on overhead lines. it still requires completely new infrastructure.

ND40 may understand more of the actual electrical side of things but the power in the transmission lines is probably not directly usable by the streetcars. you would need a series of transformers to convert it to a usable system, at that point you can't put it back into the existing lines. you will need a second power line to run the streetcar.

I think you lose a lot of flexibility when you tie a system down to the powerlines. just today in Atlanta I saw a MARTA bus pass some vehicle pulled over on the right. your system wouldn't allow for that. you need a system that is completely separate from the road to really allow a tethered system to work.

funny enough Atlanta is proposing an autonomous system that does just this thru two very fixed points with a completely separate "road" for it to run on. Its EV, but I don't think they are doing the power lines. we will see how/if it works out.

Atlanta introduces first-of-its-kind public transit system with 24/7 on-demand operations: 'What begins [here] is designed for the world'

Combining the driverless technology of autonomous vehicles with the dedicated thoroughfares of light rail, a wholly new kind of public transportation is coming to Atlanta.

www.thecooldown.com

It’s not my area of expertise but it would have to be some intermediate voltage between the 13kV neighborhood line voltage and 220V residential voltage. Power is what matters and P=V*I. So if you double the voltage you halve the current for the same operating power. Higher line voltages also minimizes transmission line losses.

 

[McDad]

Atlanta's streetcar has rails. they looked at a similar "bus" option with no rails and it was even more expensive.

the electric bikes aren't mass transportation, nor are they tethered. not sure I see the parallel you are drawing to make.

The point is, a streetcar needing rails costs more to bring to market than something designed to run on existing pavement.

 

[GroverCleveland]

I do understand the benefits of hydrogen fuel cells, but always think about that one big Hydrogen fuel cell the Germans had:

 

[NorthDallas40]

I do understand the benefits of hydrogen fuel cells, but always think about that one big Hydrogen fuel cell the Germans had:


View attachment 815482

Yeah they were morons that forced a bad design concept. We wouldn’t sell them stable helium so they used hydrogen

 

[volinbham]

I do understand the benefits of hydrogen fuel cells, but always think about that one big Hydrogen fuel cell the Germans had:


View attachment 815482

 

[GroverCleveland]

Yeah they were morons that forced a bad design concept. We wouldn’t sell them stable helium so they used hydrogen

Alright now, do you need a tissue?

 

[NorthDallas40]

Alright now, do you need a tissue?

Well it was the Nazis so no I think I’ll be good. Just hate to see piss poor design choices made that get people needlessly killed was all I meant. Byproduct of my career. I think at that time we largely controlled the world’s supply of helium and of course we weren’t going to sell it to Hitler.