EVs again - the sensible approach

[Jacob]

Simple - no batteries required - tried and tested.
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...s-scheme-for-motorway-cables-to-power-lorriesBut not good for the boys-toys market, even though reminiscent of fairground dodgems.
Takes me back to one of my first of many jobs as a bus conductor on electric trolley buses!

 

[Ollie78]

This might end up like the electrification of the rail network.
Where they didn`t remember to make or order any electric trains, when they realised, tried to order trains with the wrong specification due to some monumental idiocy at the design stage and had to pay over the odds and wait ages for the delivery.
Then they found out some parts of the track cannot accomodate the electrification so will have to use dual powered diesel trains anyway, managing to waste millions in the process.
Great job.


Ollie

 

[Sandyn]

Then they found out some parts of the track cannot accomodate the electrification so will have to use dual powered diesel trains anyway, managing to waste millions in the process.

AND they fitted the overhead power lines at the wrong height between Edinburgh and Glasgow!!

If lorries are running from overhead power cables, I hope that means they can't overtake!! I love these three mile lorry/lorry overtaking manoeuvres that sometimes happen.

 

[Cabinetman]

That’s just near me, so thanks, we’ve got months of utter f...... pandemonium. It did make me laugh when I first saw it though, talk about full circle, here we are back with trams!
It’s going to be a very strange and probably totally useless test of the equipment, which transport company is going to go to the expense of buying new lorries just for that? It’s not the sort of thing that can be back engineered onto existing trucks.
As was said, them in charge are chuffing clueless.

 

[Jacob]

That’s just near me, so thanks, we’ve got months of utter f...... pandemonium. It did make me laugh when I first saw it though, talk about full circle, here we are back with trams!
It’s going to be a very strange and probably totally useless test of the equipment, which transport company is going to go to the expense of buying new lorries just for that? It’s not the sort of thing that can be back engineered onto existing trucks.
As was said, them in charge are chuffing clueless.

Maybe it's simply going full circle - back to rail as the only means of shifting massive amounts of stuff with electricity, as it avoids the big battery issue.
Instead it confronts the personal liberty issue - the end of our freedom to drive ourselves and our goods how we please. It was always a delusion anyway, being utterly dependent on oil/motor industry and road infrastructure

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Get rid of trains and tarmac the tracks over. Put all heavy goods and coaches on them and leave the roads for cars.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

! I love these three mile lorry/lorry overtaking manoeuvres that sometimes happen.

That's the idiocy of restricting their speed.

 

[novocaine]

2 million doesn't even cover FEED. it's another pass at "green" with what is considered pocket change and it's unlikely to get past the design table. again. for the 4th (ish) time.

 

[Blackswanwood]

On the face of it sounds bonkers to me.

A more definite step to move away from fossil fuels seems to have been taken by William Grant (Glenfiddich) who have developed a way of using their waste to make biofuel for their delivery fleet. As I understand it they have offered to share the technology they have developed to produce the fuel with other whiskey distillers if they want to go down a similar route.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

2 million doesn't even cover FEED. it's another pass at "green" with what is considered pocket change and it's unlikely to get past the design table. again. for the 4th (ish) time.

It's just a bit of virtue signalling plus an envelope of cash for someone's friend/relative. The study will show (eventually) that it is a non - starter.

We can either cover the entire nation in overhead cables (like some deeply ugly towns in Italy, for example) or have two kinds of trucks - one for motorways only, and another for non motorway delivery. And if you live outside the M25, it's not as if you deserve deliveries anyway.

Any fuel or replacement power system that is less energy - dense than diesel is a step backwards and will result in reduced economic activity, which means fewer jobs, more poverty, more crime, etc, so on and so forth.

In medieval times they used wind and water power, and horses - very modern and green. I found out yesterday that the annual running cost for for a horse, back in the day, was about the same as the price to buy one. Imagine an economy where you spend the same amount on fuel each year as the price of a new car. Are we enthusiastically embracing increasing the divide between have and have not?

 

[Geoff_S]

Or they could install a long metal slot in the middle of the road …..

 

[novocaine]

On the face of it sounds bonkers to me.

A more definite step to move away from fossil fuels seems to have been taken by William Grant (Glenfiddich) who have developed a way of using their waste to make biofuel for their delivery fleet. As I understand it they have offered to share the technology they have developed to produce the fuel with other whiskey distillers if they want to go down a similar route.

fusel oil, they've been selling it to biofuel producers for years, what grants have also done is related to the mash as well. it's good idea, but it can't power their entire fleet unfortunately. Barcardi (who own more than just the rum you drink) and Diagio (between the three names in this post that's almost all whiskey makers covered) are also researching it, but with support from a biofuel manufacturer (who shall remain nameless).

the futures bright, it's also blue with a hint of green. hydrogen baby, it's the only way right now.

right, I'm out of this thread before it starts down the normal route. have fun.

 

[Rorschach]

Why bother, it's too late with climate change we are all told, stick with nice easy diesel.

 

[Stuart Moffat]

How’s about taking a tip from the nursery ski slopes drag lifts, where a bit like the San Francisco street cars you have stout cables on the motorway pulling at 70mph. You get up to 70 on the slip road, find your gap and hook on. Can’t foresee any problems with that! Oh it’s amazing how good I am at solving problems when I’m asleep!!

 

[Ollie78]

JCB have developed a new engine which is a modified diesel that runs on hydrogen. It is very clever, no idea how they prevent premature detonation but they have apparently.
An excavator that runs on batteries needs 8 tonnes of battery weight and can run for less than a shift, it then needs to be charged for a very long time. It is a non starter in that industry, no use in anywhere away from the grid.
Until supercapacitors become cheap, electric stuff is just not ready for industrial applications.

Ollie

 

[Jacob]

Cable or track electric pickup is a more practical idea than batteries for 90% (?) transport needs, and is well established technology
If you had mass battery fleets, power still has to be cabled out to the charging points - pure logic says it'd be more sensible to pick up the power from the cable direct and not have to carry massive batteries.
Bring back the dodgem!

 

[RichardG]

Sorry, trucks not running today, leaves on the road

 

[eribaMotters]

I suppose it all goes around in circles. So we are going back to trams, only a bigger. Next they'll invent something new for public transport called the trolley bus.

Colin

 

[tinfoil]

Giddyup!

 

[D_W]

AND they fitted the overhead power lines at the wrong height between Edinburgh and Glasgow!!

If lorries are running from overhead power cables, I hope that means they can't overtake!! I love these three mile lorry/lorry overtaking manoeuvres that sometimes happen.

The vehicles will eventually be autonomous and grid controlled, anyway. That'll end the antisocial behavior from people who constantly leave 8 minutes ahead of arrival at a destination 10 minutes away.