“Don’t confuse me with the facts it is what I perceive that is the truth”.
There are circa 38,000 buses (Double deck) and 19,000 coaches (single deck) in the UK and 895,000 public service vehicles in Europe. Can a full electric or hydrogen (or other non-fossil fuel facility) be developed and manufactured in sufficient quantity by 2030? 2035? 2050?
Is the electric vehicle or for that matter the hydrogen powered vehicle the panacea to pollution control?
Trolleybus Revolution – UK asks its reader to consider if the electric vehicle is the answer to urban air pollution. Is the battery electric bus (BEB) the cost-effective answer? That would depend on how it, the bus, receives its (charging) power. Compare: central charging and the extra bus for every 5 in the fleet or stage en route charging an extra bus for every 6. In motion charging requires only enough buses to do the job. A saving of £600,000 per additional vehicle to purchase. How many 5s in 38,000?
Consider a vehicle that is electrically powered in an urban environment and diesel powered in a non-urban environment – a hybrid. Trolleybus Revolution UK seeks to examine facts born of science, experience, via a logical cost benefit examination. Get rid of perceptions history is rife with them such as:
“When the Paris exhibition closes electric light will disappear with it”. (Prof Wilson, Oxford Uni. 1848)
It is a revealing book.
Colin Mackenzie –
On receiving the latest magazine and reading the piece about the above I bought it on Kindle and had it read in a day.
I enjoyed it immensely as I had lived in Brixton and my next door neighbor was a tram driver. I had always enjoyed the trolleybus when I visit Tottenham. That was the only place I ever rode the bus. At that time I was impressed with its performance and lamented that we could have them instead of trams.