Quote:
Originally Posted by bikeprof
Trucking is as advanced a Barney or Fred were back in those days...
Still pushing the same(but somewhat better machines), down the road.
I'm ALL for improvement but there are sooo many factors involved and the #1 here is:
Owner/driver of the equipment.
Change a bulb, not much light difference is noted BUT change a mind and MANY things can be done.
For instance the "super singles"; better FE, less maintenance, tracking and turning performance, etc... and how have they been accepted. Not too well...
Hybrid buses are flowing every day in most cities here in the USA, why not some 18 wheelers, hmmm?
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My assumption is that most 18wheelers are owned by a company or by an individual owner. Which they aren't willing to get out the 6-figure checkbook for whole/partial hybrid 18wheeler fleet or even just one hybrid 18wheeler when they have a whole fleet of diesels that work just fine.
And with the buses, I'm sure that most of the bus companies have deals with the state/county/city where they get a large amount of their funding from. Then these bus companies ask for more money from the state/county/city (s) so they can get a full/partial hybrid fleet. Which, as was mentioned earlier, is $900k but is "only" 15 cents per person of tax increases (Not real numbers).
And now the state/county/city can go flaunt around saying that their buses are hybrid and make themselves look better... AT OUR COST.
Don't get me wrong, I see the buses here in Sacramento have been transferring over to natural gas from gasoline or diesel. Even a number of them are a natural gas hybrid, and are really comfy on the inside! The bus and light rail are really convenient and is easy for me at all times because i pay for a commuter pass with my college tuition.
