paulgersche wrote:But you need to take into account electricity supply as well
Heardy_101 wrote:As much as it pains me to say this because I love the tangle of the overhead wires, but with modern technology we are steadily moving away from a need to have overhead. Sydney's new tram extension is an example of that.
Myrtone wrote:All new trolleybuses have battery packs for off-wire maneuvers. Batteries do indeed require recharging at regular intervals. For that matter, fuel tanks also require refilling at regular intervals. But fuel tanks can only be refilled at bus depots or dedicated service stations. Bus stops served by battery electric buses can be fitted with charging facilities and battery electric buses can charge at these, without having to go back to the depot to recharge. Or even better, the battery packs of trolleybuses charge up while on the move, and don't discharge until the bus move away from the wires. That makes them an auxiliary power unit.
Also, overhead wires (for trolleybuses as well as trams) can in fact be supported from buildings in some places.
simonl wrote:What? Refilling fuel tanks takes only a few minutes for several hours of use. Charging batteries can take longer than the use you get out of them. Rarely better than a 1:4 ratio.
Off wire maneuvers are useful sometimes but I'd wonder how feasible re-attaching trolleypoles in service actually is. Can the delay caused be less than a minute?
tonyp wrote:Modern trolleypoles are controlled remotely from the driver's seat. Lowering poles can be done on the move and raising them is typically done at a bus stop during the time of the stop dwell, typically about 15 seconds or so.
tonyp wrote:Electric bus technology is in a state of rapid development at the moment and the trolleybus and battery bus are morphing with each other. There is no such thing as a traditional "pure" trolleybus on the new bus market today and "trolleybuses" are increasingly dynamic electric buses that run a significant part of the routes off-wire and recharge their batteries on the move on-wire. This is the way things are heading in the future lead-up to phasing out diesel buses. In the future, the only static recharge will be at the depot overnight when most buses are out of service anyway.
tonyp wrote:So there is no longer a debate about "should we convert our system to trolleybuses?" This has turned into the task of addressing the certainty that diesel city commuter buses will be replaced by electric buses over the next couple of decades. The issue is now which method to extract the maximum range from an electric bus without disruptive downtime and without compromising the internal functionality (passenger space) of the bus.
tonyp wrote:The trend is towards enabling the bus to run an entire roster without having to stop for recharge (except the overnight one at the depot), which means all these flash recharge technologies that tie the bus up for a fixed period of time at stops and termini will end up in the dustbin of history and the emphasis will be on topping the bus up on the move where necessary (dynamic charging). It looks like ground induction systems are turning out to be expensive and impractical and it may well be that the length of overhead wire at termini and along parts of routes will be the best solution.
Heardy_101 wrote:Until Wellington recently closed their system, Wellington had recently upgraded overhead as well as fairly modern vehicles.
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