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by crote 56 days ago
> there might still be a point in battery swap, especially for public transport systems

There isn't. Buses aren't really size- or weight-constricted and don't drive at highway speeds, so building one with enough battery capacity to last most of the day isn't a big deal. Plenty of cities have already transitioned to a 100% electric bus fleet, after all.

A big thing to remember is that people don't travel at the same volume at every moment of the day, so you don't need to run buses at the same frequency the entire day either. You can run buses at 10-minute intervals during commute hours, 15-minute intervals in the middle of the day, and 30-minute intervals in the early mornings and late evenings. This means that there is plenty of time between the morning rush and the evening rush for some buses to go off-duty and charge for a few hour. They are going to sit idle anyways, so why not make use of it?

1 comments

There are many cases where the EV busses have been abandoned. Busses typically do not do their route and stop, so getting a significant amount of charging for any busses requires extra busses that can be rotated on/off duty. If you design the system to depend on that charging then you need extra busses and you're effectively stuck with a sparse schedule. That is not a constraint to consider with petrol-powered busses. They can run nonstop as much as needed.

There is another thing cities should consider in all this: EV busses are totally unsuitable in emergencies. They cannot be charged fast enough, especially in extreme weather. You should consider this before buying an EV as well. At least, have a plan to arrange alternate transport with a reliable petrol vehicle.

> There are many cases where the EV busses have been abandoned

Source?

> Busses typically do not do their route and stop, so getting a significant amount of charging for any busses requires extra busses that can be rotated on/off duty.

Yes. But like I said: this was already the case with diesel buses. Nothing changes here. The duty rotation is demand-driven, not supply-driven.

> EV busses are totally unsuitable in emergencies.

Emergencies are the exception, and there are very few cases where regular city buses (of any kind) are going to be the backbone of a last-minute evacuation plan. And even in that case: usually you only need to drive a dozen miles / kilometers to get out of immediate danger - which should be perfectly doable.

> You should consider this before buying an EV as well.

I completely agree. Leaving a few dozen miles / kilometers of range in the battery not only is a sensible preparation for any kind of (natural or personal) emergency, but it is also better from a charging speed and battery longevity perspective.