An idea that never occurred to me is that we could utilise petrol engines more effectively by using electric propulsion. The dutch company e-traction has developed a diesel-electric drive train that brings down diesel consumption and pollution for buses quite significantly. A diesel engine charges the batteries that drive the bus with electric engines.
Because the diesel engine is used for electricity generation only it can run at it’s optimal efficiency while the electric engines deal with peak power and low power. The buses use about a quarter of the diesel fuel of pure diesel vehicles. The electric engines are built directly into the wheels making them as efficient as possible (no power loss to transmission of power through gears).
The concept also uses smart GPS technology to save diesel. It recognises when it needs power and when not by sensing the congestion on the streets. I still don’t quite understand how it does that but the idea’s great.
I think until pure electric buses come our way (10 years? Batteries are still not really up to whole day use) this is a very good option and I’m sure you’d be able to retrofit later. I can also imagine that these buses need less repair than their pure diesel counterparts because the “complex” diesel engine is not that stressed and electric engines are by far less maintenance intensive. So all in all this would be a good bet.
Let’s have these things on Wellington roads please!
Tags: climate, electric car, energy, Environment, sustainability