100% electric buses

[J_E]

I think you're a little harsh on solar power. Even a little solar panel adds some charge. Even if it adds only a couple of miles to the Daily range, it's still worth doing.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

At work, we tried solar on a golf cart.  We took a flexible panel and covered the entire roof on a 4 seater.  We then directed everyone to not hook it up to the charger and to just park it in the sun.  I do not remember the specs.  No one ever knew whether it added anything because the cart was always dead.  We let the project go until we killed every battery on that cart. Haven't messed with solar powered carts since.  I have threatened to try and retrofit a Prius style solar A/C setup on to the roof of my Suburban, but I haven't yet.

[Iceni John]

I think you're a little harsh on solar power. Even a little solar panel adds some charge. Even if it adds only a couple of miles to the Daily range, it's still worth doing.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I don't think I'm being harsh on solar power generally, or on my bus's solar installation.   I'm just being realistic.   I'll be the first to say what it cannot do, or what its shortcomings are.   Even after spending a fair chunk of my hard-earned money on it, I won't be expecting it to do more than I intended it to do in the first place.   For me, solar is just a tool, a means to an end.   There's no magic or miracles  -  it's just science, pure and simple, and like anything else it has its limits.   For me however it's worth it for the benefits it will give me for my intended usage.   For other folk with different expectations, solar is probably not a realistic option.

John

[lvmci]

I shot a Chevy convention in LV for Chevy dealers, they had a fleet of 10 of their small suvs with electric power run by a hydrogen cumbustion engine, as in electromotive locomotive power, the general manager, a nice guy, now at Cadillac,  said the pressuure from the oil companies was a tremendous,  and starting a new hydrogen delivery system with those companies against it was insurmountable...

[Zephod]

I don't think I'm being harsh on solar power generally, or on my bus's solar installation.   I'm just being realistic.   I'll be the first to say what it cannot do, or what its shortcomings are.   Even after spending a fair chunk of my hard-earned money on it, I won't be expecting it to do more than I intended it to do in the first place.   For me, solar is just a tool, a means to an end.   There's no magic or miracles  -  it's just science, pure and simple, and like anything else it has its limits.   For me however it's worth it for the benefits it will give me for my intended usage.   For other folk with different expectations, solar is probably not a realistic option.

John

People seem to be dead against my solar setup but it works pretty well. My two 10W panels provide plenty power for my twin extraction fans. In winter the fans are off for longer than they're on but that's because there's less daylight. They still work just fine. I expect the same from my front panel which will power an induction fan and siphon off surplus power to charge a 14ah battery bank.

I have a feeling many people expect to be able to run everything off solar without deciding what they really, truly need.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Zephod]

At work, we tried solar on a golf cart.  We took a flexible panel and covered the entire roof on a 4 seater.  We then directed everyone to not hook it up to the charger and to just park it in the sun.  I do not remember the specs.  No one ever knew whether it added anything because the cart was always dead.  We let the project go until we killed every battery on that cart. Haven't messed with solar powered carts since.  I have threatened to try and retrofit a Prius style solar A/C setup on to the roof of my Suburban, but I haven't yet.

Sounds like something was amiss with the setup.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Jeremy]

I shot a Chevy convention in LV for Chevy dealers, they had a fleet of 10 of their small suvs with electric power run by a hydrogen cumbustion engine, as in electromotive locomotive power, the general manager, a nice guy, now at Cadillac,  said the pressuure from the oil companies was a tremendous,  and starting a new hydrogen delivery system with those companies against it was insurmountable...

And perhaps at least as important, where would you get the hydrogen from? It's the most common element in the Universe and every high school student knows how it can be simply extracted from water by electrolysis - but as yet the large-scale industrial process doesn't exist that will generate/extract either the sort of quantities of hydrogen that you'd need for it to become a widespread fuel, or even a way of producing it that doesn't rely on large amounts of power being consumed by the production process.

Regarding solar, absolutely, people see news stories about solar challenge buggies racing across the Australian outback, or (super-high-altitude) solar-powered aircraft flying around the world, and they get a completely false impression about the amount of power a solar panel can produce, and the things it can be used to drive. Mind you, cumulatively it does really build-up - earlier this year it was announced that, for the first time since the industrial revolution, wind and solar power (plus the usual nuclear) had met all the UK's power needs for a day and no coal or gas had been burned at all. It's happened two or three times again since then and it's already 'old news' which is barely reported. So covering you car, or even your bus, in solar panels won't achieve very much at all, but if you have a few million house roofs covered in panels and all tied together it begins to add-up to something worthwhile

Jeremy

[eagle19952]

And perhaps at least as important, where would you get the hydrogen from? It's the most common element in the Universe and every high school student knows how it can be simply extracted from water by electrolysis - but as yet the large-scale industrial process doesn't exist that will generate/extract either the sort of quantities of hydrogen that you'd need for it to become a widespread fuel, or even a way of producing it that doesn't rely on large amounts of power being consumed by the production process.

Regarding solar, absolutely, people see news stories about solar challenge buggies racing across the Australian outback, or (super-high-altitude) solar-powered aircraft flying around the world, and they get a completely false impression about the amount of power a solar panel can produce, and the things it can be used to drive. Mind you, cumulatively it does really build-up - earlier this year it was announced that, for the first time since the industrial revolution, wind and solar power (plus the usual nuclear) had met all the UK's power needs for a day and no coal or gas had been burned at all. It's happened two or three times again since then and it's already 'old news' which is barely reported. So covering you car, or even your bus, in solar panels won't achieve very much at all, but if you have a few million house roofs covered in panels and all tied together it begins to add-up to something worthwhile

Jeremy

sure...but who will accept the blame when all of the oxygen and shade production is decreased proportionally 

[Iceni John]

sure...but who will accept the blame when all of the oxygen and shade production is decreased proportionally 

Who else?   http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40363390

'Nuff said.

John

[eagle19952]

Who else?   http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40363390

'Nuff said.

John

shoulda known that answer...

the latest proposal has him putting a 2% levy on all funds transfers made by aliens/immigrants to banks and family in all of South and Central America... it was suggested that billions a year is sent home by illegals. that would have Latinos paying...

[lvmci]

I suggested to him that the Chevy dealers could have hydrogen fuel stations,  they would get those vehicles back at their stores  every week or so, to sell them batteries and tires. Turns out Honda  had a hydrogen fueling station at the CNG fueling station,  because Honda had given two of their hydrogen powered  Fit models as an experiment, to the city to beta test in LV...