stephen judkinsProfoundly depressing to see the argument that we need to keep running diesel buses, with their significant carbon emissions (40 passenger-mpg in Portland) and carcinogenic diesel pollutants spewed into dense neighborhoods, because the alternative is a 20% higher capital spend (or decades-long project to put up catenaries)
Number One Shoup Fan@stephenjudkins I'd put it that right now no city wants to go first with battery busses. The tech just doesn't seem quite there. Seems like it would be worth it for the feds to step in and fund some larger project to get the kinks out.
yarrriv@OneShoup @stephenjudkins I think phrasing it as just a matter of paying 20% more is disingenuous, there are range issues and obviously you need capital investment in charging stations. For places with cold winters in particular I think it's not there yet, though for Portland it might work
@OneShoup @stephenjudkins and then on particulate emissions, if we removed every single diesel bus would air quality in Portland (or anywhere) change significantly? This will be more convincing if we had car-free cities, or once the majority of private cars on the road are electric. But that's still a decade or two away I think