
Electric buses are now cheaper than diesel/CNG - doener
https://electrek.co/2017/02/13/electric-buses-proterra-ceo/
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ZeroGravitas
Busses are a bit of a perfect storm for going electric:

They are heavy and stop and go a lot, which is ideal for regen as they slow,
and electric motor torque as they pull off again.

They run standard routes, which lets them plan refuelling with some certainty.

They're used heavily, which means low fuel costs and low maintenance costs add
up faster.

They're owned by businesses that are happy to invest up front if they can
calculate that the above will break even within a certain timeframe and start
to pay off.

They're used in city centers where pollution is a hot topic, with diesel being
banned by cities etc.

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dzhiurgis
One of the worst thing they produce is just ridicilous amount of noise and
vibration. New buses in London are awesome, can't wait more places to adopt
them.

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CoconutPilot
I'm scared to think it, but I suspect we'll see battery powered buses and
trucks banned from high security (ie airports) and valuable infrastructure (ie
bridges, tunnels) over worries about the explosive potential of their lithium
batteries.

The Proterra buses (company quoted in the original link) look to have 1000s of
pounds of battery in a bus. Judging by the ferocity of a laptop/phone battery
burning if the bus' batteries could be maliciously burned it would be an
absolute inferno.

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upofadown
Gasoline powered vehicles are allowed in those places and they do indeed turn
into an absolute inferno when they combust. Heck, they even allow compressed
natural gas vehicles in those sorts of places and they can actually explode.

If we are talking malicious, releasing any combustible gas in an enclosed area
can cause a building levelling explosion.

As a culture, we have gotten used to life with super combustible stuff.
Batteries might actually be a significant improvement.

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alex_duf
Alright TFL, your turn...

