Dr. Joel Germond Loc: California Central Coast

I thought this was a photography website. Sounds now like an open forum on political opinions. Bummer, another one bites the dust.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Jerry
I worked for the third largest School Bus Contractor in the country for almost 10 years They had the Deseg. contract
in St.louis, Mo approx. 500 buses at different locations in the city and surrounding areas.

DBQ49er Loc: Dubuque, IA

Your mention of "cash for clunkers" and two weeks ago the news that somewhere in California they were going to start a recycling plant for solar panels. We are just now getting people to install solar panels with little fore thought of hail damage for us in the mid west, the loss of energy from snow in the winter that covers the panels and try to get someone to go up and clean those panels from dirt from the air. I have to park on the street so I don't see my family putting in a charging station for the public to block and hook their own car to. Our society is not that kind right now for all this to work right now. GOOD food for thought today!

sheebe2 Loc: Lake Isabella, CA

Agree, we are not able to handle electric vehicles. Seen many in the news lately that caught on fire and the fire is a pain to put out. Electric cars are very heavy also. EV stations are scarce up here anyway. Now they want to put our kids in danger with the buses.

Real Nikon Lover Loc: Simi Valley, CA

Most grants come with dollar match requirements. In many cases it's dollar to dollar so the school district/jurisdiction would be liable to match funds for each bus and/or 100% of uncovered equipment and building/grid improvements. I oversaw several grants and it is a PIA to ask for more money after a program starts.

BTW... diesel buses rarely run out of fuel unless there is human error. Imagine a bus full of kids having an electrical failure in a freak snowstorm, being stranded with no heat. Ugh. Or stuck in high heat situation.

To date, there is nothing cheaper than fossil fuel to mechanize the world. Fact.

Haenzel Loc: South Holland, The Netherlands

You guys have a long way to go

This bus (an extended version) in the video is only a tiny bit heavier than your type D schoolbus. Range is 450 !!! km. Charging at 600 kW for 10 minutes gives them 80 km range. 53 Seats and 90 standing places, wifi usb-charging. No mirrors but cameras for better view in the dark...I think it's a good option, but...you need to have the infrastructure of course...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOsB8Xw8huI

BebuLamar

This is chit chat general discussion but please don't make it political.

Sirsnapalot Loc: Hammond, Louisiana

DBQ49er Loc: Dubuque, IA

We finally are getting AC in our buses, still trying to bond issues to get AC in the remainder of school building. My brother bought a EV a year ago and has run low on charge at times. EV have to use more energy to heat in the winter and as electrical understandings of batteries will tell you, you CAN NOT get a full charge in the winter time temperatures. A regular car battery is only 50% efficient at below freezing on a regular winter day. My brother is off to see his son in Seattle WA, drove into Canada to get their because they have more charging stations up . The public has some much to relearn. Thanks for talking, Larry

Real Nikon Lover Loc: Simi Valley, CA

All eyes on LA City Fire Department! They are experimenting with an electric powered fire engine. I can't wait to read the after action report on this project. LA City has been very proactive in buying electric BMW staff cars for their general fleet use.

francosp Loc: Arizona

Very interesting news. But what does it has to do with photography?

brrywill

It's true that anytime society undergoes a major technological change, the transition is difficult. I am sure the horse and buggy manufacturers went out kicking and screaming, but in most cases the changes have been proven to be worth the effort.

In the case of using EV's with the current fossil fuel based grid, most international studies have proven driving an electric car is far and away better, carbon-emissions wise, in all areas of the world. Even in China, where they still rely heavily on coal to fuel the grid, can realize 37% to 45% fewer emissions.

We do have a visual precident to evaluate this theory. If you think back to the early days of the Covid epidemic, all of the worlds major polution centers cleared up. The air in the major cities all of a sudden became clean and fresh for the first time in over 100 years. Even the Taj Mahal, which resides in one of the worlds most poluted cities, became visible up to a mile away. All because people stopped driving their cars. The electric grids were still very much in use and supplying electricity, but it was parking the dirty gas dirven cars that cleared the world's air.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Its general chit chat!!!

Miker999

Your thoughts on a fire are very real. Many Fire Depts. now let those fires burn themselves out and many Wrecker Companies will not take a care that has not been let to totally burn out. The reason is that there has been cases of the car bursting into flames again while on the wrecker! This is caused by batteries that may not be totally dead from the first fire.

lightyear

The environmental crazies do not recognize or consider the substantial risk of large lithium rechargeable batteries, demonstrated by the recent lithium battery fire on the new cars being shipped from Europe to the USA : ship and automobiles all lost. The fire last night at the lithium battery charging facility in one of the former Russian countries is more evidence. We should never risk our children to satisfy their nonsensical programs.