Hey just wanted to let you know, I've read every single post in this community and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future every night before bed when I use lemmy to claw some precious time back from the eternal grind.
I remember one episode where a girl in the bus was texting and some old lady got up to tell her that "it will go into the engine". The old lady was terrified.
My city bans bikes from buses because of the space they take up. Scooters and folding bikes are ok only if they're folded up small enough not to be obstructive.
The really shitty thing is that bikes are allowed on trains. But if the trains are unavailable and get replaced by a rail replacement bus...because it's a bus, you can't take your bike.
Tbf the manufacturing standards for plenty of e-scooters and -bikes can be pretty iffy sometimes, and people abuse them in ways that can increase the likelihood of issues. I concede that the vast majority of electric personal transportation devices that go up in flames usually happens during charging. A public transportation bus has to meet higher standards than a mono wheel scooter off of AliExpress.
(Imo they should be allowed on, but I can see the point in not doing so)
Meanwhile, TSA: no water bottle for you. Bring a cell phone, laptop battery, and a spare 20,000 mAh backup battery (of dodgy provenance no less)? Sure no problem.
Assumably the bus company would be buying the bus from a company with better quality control then the Chinese ones. There were some knockoffs "hover boards" that catch on fire and that Chinese bus fire.
Battery Management Systems aren't some new, developing technology. We know how to safely manage Lithium battery, it's just the certain manufactures are cheaping out on the battery packs and BMS. People didn't all stop using their phones because of the Note7 fires. People didn't stop driving cars because of the Ford Pinto. They need to get over their EV fears and be more discerning
In Northern Ireland during the Troubles, people put (time)bombs on busses and when the bus driver heard about it, he just went and lifted it off the bus and put it in a ditch at the side of the road and informed the police. Couldn't be bothered with evacuating the bus in the middle of nowhere.
i dont think that an electric fleet is feasable by 2030. for one simple reason: wintertime.
the way to go for commercial vehicles is for the time being dieselelectric.
that means diesel generator, battery, and electric drive.