Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by ddeck 2578 days ago
>they have proven at least as reliable as their diesel counterparts

Things may have improved recently, but that certain was not the experience in Hong Kong:

"Five Hong Kong electric buses pulled from service in under two weeks due to glitches"[1]

"Hong Kong electric buses pulled from the road for third time in nine months"[2]

"Trial run of five Hong Kong electric buses delayed indefinitely due to bus stop bell problems"[3]

"KMB electric bus runs into trouble on first day of trial"[4]

[1] https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/2038314/...

[2] https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/2038314/...

[3] https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/arti...

[4] http://www.ejinsight.com/20170801-kmb-electric-bus-runs-into...

1 comments

Most of those stories are from 2016. Technology improves over time.

In 2011 there was a high-speed train crash in China and every questioned HSR in China.

Today China had 19,000 miles of track and carries 2 billion passengers a year.

It’s not hard to believe that initial electric buses had a few problems.

> Most of those stories are from 2016.

Here are a couple from 2018 and 2019:

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-electric-buses-201...

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/01/electric-bus-...

> Technology improves over time.

This is bus technology, not rocket surgery. The BYD buses in Albuquerque had door malfunctions, cracked and missing welds, brake issues, exposed high voltage cables, etc.:

https://www.cabq.gov/mayor/news/mayor-tim-keller-byd-will-be...

This doesn't have anything to do with the technology. It's just bad bus manufacturing.

”The BYD buses in Albuquerque had door malfunctions, cracked and missing welds, brake issues, exposed high voltage cables, etc”

Much of London’s electric bus fleet uses the BYD battery & drivetrain in combination with an ADL (Alexander Dennis) bus body. These units seem to be reliable and well-regraded.

Again, show me some links. Here are the bus inspection reports from Albuquerque. They're not great:

https://www.cabq.gov/mayor/build-your-dreams-mechanic-inspec...

China has almost 400,000 electric busses.

https://electrek.co/2019/03/20/chinese-electric-buses-oil/

How are those working?

You tell me. Just saying there are 400,000 doesn't speak to their quality or reliability.