EV School busses/mobile power storage devices

[freebeard]

Yup.

It's not that the idea is bad, it's that the government is there to help.

Edit: School buses could have full roof solar panels, with a fleet of buses that's a lot of area.

If they had a full width rear hatch and backed up to a corridor, with flexible seating they could be useable space during the day.

The whole school could be re-architected to take advantage, more like an airport. Won't someone think of the children?

[redpoint5]

I think of the children often now that I've got one about to start school. Mostly I think how they are state-run prisons for children, and that they do not serve the interests of the citizens, but the interests of the state.

Pretty easy solution to that, vouchers, but then authoritarian types are loath to loosen the grip on impressionable children.

[freebeard]

According to Fuller, human's gain half their total knowledge by the age of four. Then childhood amnesia sets in, and they wonder how they got that way. You are responsible until 18, but start losing control at six. Alls I can say is, give it your best shot.

Ontopic: Cyber School Buses! I just learned that SpaceX uses friction stir welding on their Starship. So a monocoque paint-free bus body stir-welded by robots is plausible. Crush-proof, bullet-proof buses.

[redpoint5]

Cyberbus sounds awesome. Body would have to contribute to frame reduction or it would be insanely more heavy.

Any unpainted material had better be resistant to damage, because it cannot be bondoed and repainted as a repair. That's the problem with the Delorean.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Is there new news on EV busses?

Proterra declared chapter 11 bankruptcy this week. They are still continue their manufacturing as normal and will be restructuring debt and business units going forward. Today they have transit, powertrains, and charging under one company. I suspect they will separate the money losing transit business from the others.

[Piotrsko]

Pretty sure school busses have to be painted international orange, but haven't seen contrarian data suggesting otherwise.

[oil pan 4]

If it was a good idea it wouldn't need millions and millions of tax payer dollars.

[freebeard]

They would just find some other reason to require millions and millions of tax payer dollars.

Th cost-effective method is to offer a bounty. The X-Prize series being an example.

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › X_Prize_Foundation
X Prize Foundation - Wikipedia
XPRIZES are monetary rewards to incentivize three primary goals: Attract investment from outside the sector that take new approaches to difficult problems. Create significant results that are real and meaningful. Competitions have measurable goals, and are created to promote adoption of the innovation.

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

school busses have to be painted international orange

Politically constrained conspicuity? Why all the yellow buses, is it my eyes?

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

If it was a good idea it wouldn't need millions and millions of tax payer dollars.

Agreed for things like busses. Doesn't take a rocket surgeon to electrify one, and the capital risk to enter is not insurmountable.

There might be a case for government funding for something like fusion, or next-gen fission. When so much money is required to make a decent run at the problem with no expected ROI, those projects might not get funding, and they are among the most important.

Maybe I just need to start a GoFundMe for a thorium reactor. Donations above $1,000 get $0.03/kWh electricity for life, or something.

[freebeard]

GoFundMe is an attractor for money, Xprize is an attractor for better ways of doing things.

Doesn't take a rocket surgeon to electrify one, and the capital risk to enter is not insurmountable.

Electrifying existing buses would preclude moving to safer buses with a lower floor height. Idra Group in Italy would likely sell their die casting equipment to others than Tesla.

Did you know about the spin fusion welding that SpaceX uses on stainless steel?

edit: A good comparison would be the Spanish Talgo train compared to conventional rolling stock



Imagine this rolling up in the morning to pick up the kids. =)