In Motion Charging: Part II

https://youtu.be/-OMdhZs5mok

In my previous blog about In Motion Charging, I gave a brief introduction to the subject.   I am a lazy researcher, but looking over some documents, I got a better view of the subject.   The basics are that a bunch of cities, worldwide, basically the transportation organizations, will no longer buy buses that run on carbon fuels in order to protect the environment.   The type of buses desired are battery powered, that may require recharging at some point in the day.   Thus we can see that battery powered buses are not perfect.   In fact, to get a battery to do a heavy job of transporting passengers has been under research for at least 100 years.  Some streetcars in Manhattan were light and battery powered.  I am not sure if those cars were recharged or that a new battery was slipped in.  Move forward 100 years and it seems now, that for smaller buses, on infrequent trips, the units work well but some time must be spent in recharging;  perhaps at night or at bus stops by raising a device to the re-charging pole.  But what happens for bus routes that are very busy, carry a lot of passengers and use air-conditioning and perhaps are articulated into two or three units?   It seems that for some routes, the buses cannot spend excessive time in recharging mode for economic and logistic reasons.  In the literature, IMC for trolley buses was discussed as a solution because while the bus is under the wired portion of the route, the battery can be re-charged.   It seems to me that the literature is talking about existing trolley bus systems where IMC can extend a route and cut down on recharge time.  It is not clear if the literature is talking about brand new trolley buses systems with route length extensions  that are wireless.   The question is:  Can battery buses handle summer loads with recharging down  time?   Is the trolleybus with IMC electronics considered an alternative for cities that currently do not have trolleybuses?  If these battery buses can handle crush loads with recharging time that is reasonable, the trolleybus will be in trouble.  If the only solution is IMC trolleybuses, can the world cities afford to build trolley bus systems from scratch?  How long would it take?  And as a aside, can a city with new trolleybus overhead use it  for trolley trucks (e-highway?).  I think that this would be a good investment for a city.  So far, I do not see a movement to build new trolleybus systems.

Just my opinion.
Tramway Null()

In Motion Charging: Can this save the traditional trolleybus?

Hi Folks:

  Sorry not to have added a new entry recently into this blog.  In New York City, nothing is much happening from my viewpoint.  The Brooklyn Queens light rail is decades away, if it should be built.  There are new deliveries of R-179 cars.   I was on one last week on the "C" train and I believe the number of the car was 3136?   The car that I was in had no advertising cards set up and the only difference that I noticed between the R 179 and perhaps the R 160 was that the door indicator light was somewhat different with a flatter lens.   Last week, California and perhaps several other states said that they will no longer purchase diesel buses or other type of similar buses and will use instead battery buses.  No mention was made of trolley buses.   It it known that battery buses are not perfect and that they have to be charged for a certain amount of time.  Could a busy bus route, with crowds of passengers on a hot summer day, with hills be handled by a battery bus?   It was pointed out by some, and I am sorry that I do not have a link, that perhaps In Motion Charging could solve the problem.  IMC would be a battery bus that has trolley poles and that a portion of the route would be under wire.   When the trolleybus is under wire, the batteries can be charged and the trolley - battery bus can complete the balance of the route without wires.   I believe the technology for this exists already.   In the next several months or years, this and other factors will determine if trolley bus systems can survive.   If battery buses cannot handle the load, and hills and ice, perhaps new trolleybus systems can be developed where part of the journey is wireless.  I would like the two former routes in South Philly to be reinstated with TB's , if the battery bus experiments fail.   IMC will be ideal where several bus routes share a street and later branch out.   The common street can have the overhead.  One group even suggested that some bus routes in downtown Brooklyn that run on Fulton Street can be a candidate for this technology.

Let us see what happens,

Tramway Null(0)

See "Pedestrian Observations" 2018 /12/9  In-Motion Charging
See their opinion about Boston and even Brooklyn!

I do not find the situation where a bus raises a pantograph for recharging at a bus stop interesting from a rail buff standpoint.  Here, I believe they are talking about a regular trolleybus with traditional overhead.  The line can be extended without wires.   All the time the bus is under wires the batteries will be recharged more efficiently that recharging and losing time at bus stops.  InEurope, I believe there are units operating under this mode.  If the battery buses can be recharged fast while caring big loads in the summer, the trolleybus is dead.
  According to Canada's "National Observer", trolley:motion, an organization that promotes the use of trolleybuses is help conducting an experiment in converting a regular battery bus to a trolley bus to be used on demanding routes.   If this experiment is a success, Trolley:Motion will help electric battery bus companies offer a bus with optional trolley poles for in motion charging.  This is wonderful.

In my opinion, it is a good for a city to have a few sets of overhead wires for trolleybus lines.  How about using them for trolley trucks?    What I see from videos from Siemans E-highway, the overhead is very different, but let us give it a try.  If many bus companies offer buses with trolley poles, perhaps more cities will consider battery buses with In Motion Charging with wires for a major part of the route, and thus, the trolleybus is saved.