pianotuna wrote:
That distance record is impressive. However they drove 15 mph to do it.
Yeah, reality is a city bus runs full throttle/full brake/repeat all day long. If they get a 1/3 of the reported range in real world use I would be surprised.
Someone suggested 2000 recharge cycles is what lithium battery packs are good for (not sure I buy that but let's go with it):
- In a passenger car with 150mile range and 30 mile round trip commute, that's 27yrs of full charge cycles.
- In a city bus, they will likely be doing a full cycle daily. That's 5.5yrs before they have to buy another battery pack, so they are paying $200k extra up front and have to expect at least 1 and possibly as many as 3 battery pack purchases. Keep in mind, if they dump an old diesel bus, it has resale value if it's still running. If you dump a 15-20yr old electric bus with a dead battery pack, it's likely going to be worth the scrap metal value as $75-100k for a battery pack isn't going to cut it.
