Do Londoners dream of electric buses? • Hacker News Board

Re: Do Londoners dream of electric buses?

#71

Post by telchar » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 5:17 PM UTC

kaybe wrote: post #64

Reason077 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most smart people driving in London are going to leave their car's climate control on the "recirculate" setting whenever possible. That gives you a more-or-less closed environment, running cabin air back through the car's filters rather than sucking in dirty air from the street. But cyclists and pedestrians have no such luxury - they're breathing in the filth whenever they're on, or near, a busy road.

If you only have a paper filter that won't help at all.

Activated carbon filters are cheap, mine cost $12. I can't speak to whether all other cars have compatible fits though.

Re: Do Londoners dream of electric buses?

#72

Post by solarkraft » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 5:18 PM UTC

cm2187 wrote: post #21

nothrabannosir wrote: post #8

> Londoners might not dream of electric buses, … Every single cyclist dreams of electric busses, believe you me. Huffing nitrogen stationary-bus-fart oxides turns any public road here straight into an express lane to lung cancer, without even the courtesy of a nicotine rush. I laugh when people say cycling is healthy. Not in London. Nooo sir. Between the long term certainty of whatever smokers like to aim for, and th…

Keeping in mind you probably won't hear them coming.

You do. I had the chance to ride on a BYD bus. The electric motors are not as quiet as I thought and the interior really likes to rattle.

Both things can be solved, but at the price hit of the EV tech I"m not sure the clients would be very willing to spend the money.

Re: Do Londoners dream of electric buses?

#73

Post by keithpeter » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 5:21 PM UTC

Just down the road from Waterloo Travelodge which is quiet, cheap and a good base for central London explorations should anyone be visiting. While in that part of the Great Wen, don't miss Roupell Street around 5pm.

Re: Do Londoners dream of electric buses?

#74

Post by telchar » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 5:26 PM UTC

detritus wrote: post #68

A peripheral benefit of electrified buses would be regenerative braking. I've lost count of the amount of times that grubby, dusty brake pads have led to screeching that makes me feel like my ears are about to bleed, when buses have come to a standstill beside me. I once even wrote to TFL about the problem, weird little man that I am. Never received a response.

You're not the only one bothered by that. I find school buses and small delivery vehicles to be the worst on that, given the frequent stops and starts and minimal maintenance they receive. The city buses here are marginally better but not by much.

Re: Do Londoners dream of electric buses?

#75

Post by cup-of-tea » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 5:29 PM UTC

albertgoeswoof wrote: post #10

nothrabannosir wrote: post #8

> Londoners might not dream of electric buses, … Every single cyclist dreams of electric busses, believe you me. Huffing nitrogen stationary-bus-fart oxides turns any public road here straight into an express lane to lung cancer, without even the courtesy of a nicotine rush. I laugh when people say cycling is healthy. Not in London. Nooo sir. Between the long term certainty of whatever smokers like to aim for, and th…

Is there any research to back up your claim? What are the chances of getting cancer from this? Is there even a direct link? Is it better in aggregate to be an unfit bus rider or a fit cyclist?

The World Health Organisation declared diesel exhaust carcinogenic in 2012: https://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2012/pdfs/pr213_E.pdf

Re: Do Londoners dream of electric buses?

#76

Post by cup-of-tea » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 5:31 PM UTC

rjmunro wrote: post #50

superqwert wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About half of pollutants come from brakes and tyres - http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JR... Bringing in electric buses will not decrease these pollutants. They will also not remove enough of the other half of the pollutants. The change needs to be far wider and harsher.

What do you mean "They will also not remove enough of the other half of the pollutants." Surely they will remove 100% of those, plus most of the brake dust. It's true that there will be an increase in road / tyre dust due to the extra weight of batteries, but I'd be very surprised if this was as much as was saved elsewhere.

I think he's talking about all the other vehicles on the roads other than buses.

Re: Do Londoners dream of electric buses?

#77

Post by tom_ » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 5:33 PM UTC

tom_ wrote: post #3

Most interesting part of the article for me: > and being of considerable utility, they are remarkably undamaged. It seems that sticking chewing gum in things only applies when the vandal feels they wont personally lose out (assuming this is actually true, and not another in a long local tradition of overly rose-tinted journalistic views of our grim North Sea shithole)

OK, sorry, this comment supposed to be a bit of light-hearted fun and I particularly didn't expect to stir up the hornets' nest of "BUT IMMIGRANT'S" (though I should know by now that those people can see immigrants in everything).

Anyway, if you can read this, please flag my post, and give it a downvote while you're there, and perhaps dang will delete it. I hope so. It's too late for me to do it myself. Apologies.

Re: Do Londoners dream of electric buses?

#78

Post by htgb » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 6:08 PM UTC

chris_va wrote: post #65

A key difference is that diesel can “recharge” a bus in a matter of minutes, so buses simply queue up at a pump and then drive off. With electric, it takes a few hours overnight, so they had to install a long line of charging points right down the middle of the garage. ... Anyone here know why swappable batteries haven't taken off for fleets?

In Gothenburg, where Volvo is increasing the trials of electric buses, there are charging stations at the end of lines. So the bus charges roughly 10 minutes, twice per round trip.

As an aside, riding them is very nice -- the noise level is very low.

The project: https://www.electricitygoteborg.se/en

Re: Do Londoners dream of electric buses?

#79

Post by growlist » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 6:40 PM UTC

ben_w wrote: post #62

growlist wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not much QOL though if you're one of the millions of unemployed.

And that’s why I never bought a place in Merthyr Tydfil despite being famously affordable, and also why I moved out of Aberystwyth when I graduated despite it looking pretty and being a good place for really long quiet countryside walks. High unemployment in an area sucks even when you personally have a job. Given nothing will stop Brexit, I wish I could say I thought Westminster cared enough to provide replacements…

I was talking about Spain. Opportunities for young people are not good there atm - worse than the UK.

Re: Do Londoners dream of electric buses?

#80

Post by growlist » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 6:46 PM UTC

dalore wrote: post #69

growlist wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are the one making that comparison, not me, and that's only for asylum seekers. Net migration to the UK is still near historic highs, with migration from outside the EU actually increasing, and the predicted exodus of EU migrants far smaller than was forecast. The UK is still a dream destination for many migrants.

Yeah but aren't they the right kind of immigrants? /s

For some reason a points based system is deemed OK for Australia etc, but when the UK looks at the same it's not long before the accusations of racism start flying.