91–100 of 148 posts
We need more electric trolley busses. These battery powered ones are nonsense
Battery technology continues to improve in cost, energy density, and charge/discharge rate. There are already systems that use a catenary-like device to "top off" the bus while it is stopped at a bus stop.
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The entire point is that you can't "deal" with it. Since car batteries contain the fuel and the oxidizer, there isn't a way to separate them short of blowing the whole thing up. Fires can stop and start spontaneously, and often do (see pictures and videos of Teslas on fire in junkyards).
This is not really true. There are tools and agents to address lithium fires, but you have to have them. If you just try to put them out with water, you're going to be there all night fighting reignition.
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The napalm bomb you're speaking of is made of gasoline. Which is in most cars and vehicles on the road. So you're less afraid of something designed to catch fire and explode (gas) than something that is designed to operate safely at it's core (batteries)? That just doesn't make sense. Other than being afraid of new technology. And that's totally ok. Its fine to say you don't like change or new technologies. There is…
Diesel is generally considered a safer fuel than gasoline, it's a lot less gaseous or flammable. That said, yeah it's not like ICE vehicles are any safer when it comes to fire hazards. They're probably easier to extinguish though; EV fires are a pain, to the point where fire brigades bring in containers, fill them with water and dump EV car wrecks into them until they've stopped reacting.
Not when they spontaneously combust they don't
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Yes. Good thing to ground them, but it also shows these vehicles are not ready. Even if its an act of sabotoge, like someone shooting at the battery. It would not happen with a regular diesel bus.
Umm, it did. In CT. Last month. https://archive.ph/FZ2wv
Why is this article relevant?
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The napalm bomb you're speaking of is made of gasoline. Which is in most cars and vehicles on the road. So you're less afraid of something designed to catch fire and explode (gas) than something that is designed to operate safely at it's core (batteries)? That just doesn't make sense. Other than being afraid of new technology. And that's totally ok. Its fine to say you don't like change or new technologies. There is…
Lithium batteries are dangerous in a way gasoline tanks are not: while a punctured tank (say, due to a unlucky collision with a piece of debris or a crash) is dangerous, it does not guarantee a fire or explosion. A punctured lithium cell will almost always burn. There are also more ways to screw up a battery. Overcharging, manufacturing defects, and so forth. A gas tank is literally a chunk of cast metal with a pump…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Diesel is generally considered a safer fuel than gasoline, it's a lot less gaseous or flammable. That said, yeah it's not like ICE vehicles are any safer when it comes to fire hazards. They're probably easier to extinguish though; EV fires are a pain, to the point where fire brigades bring in containers, fill them with water and dump EV car wrecks into them until they've stopped reacting.
When was the last recall of a gasoline fueled car for spontaneous combustion?
> Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2020-2022 Escape, 2021-2022 Lincoln Corsair, and 2022 Maverick vehicles equipped with 2.5L HEV or PHEV engines. In the event of an engine failure, engine oil and fuel vapor may be released into the engine compartment and accumulate near ignition sources such as hot engine or exhaust components, possibly resulting in an engine compartment fire.
How much emissions did that release compared to running a petrol bus?
I think it's fantastic that smaller-to-midsized towns are bringing EV buses into service, but I'll mention my perennial bugbear again: all of these towns had dedicated trolley service under a century ago. The lines were torn up and replaced with less frequent, traffic encumbered bus routes. Hamden, for example, had three lines between it and New Haven[1]. [1]: http://www.hamdenhistoricalsociety.org/trolleys.html