01-22-2024, 10:01 PM
(01-20-2024, 04:01 PM)ac3r Wrote: I wonder how quickly they start taking them out of service for whatever reason. Electric buses are total garbage even in the best case scenario, so I can't imagine these will be that successful...especially since these are from Nova. Back in Europe we've got things like the Dutch company Ebusco or the Polish Solaris buses. Yet even those buses are mostly just a cheap political novelty to score points with the greenfolk. The majority of the fleets are still combustion or hybrid not because switching takes time, but because electric vehicles as a whole are still shitty and tend to be even worse for the environment (and create complex ethical/moral problems) than a traditional bus that burns diesel.
From https://www.plugincanada.ca/electric-bus-faq/
Quote:Does producing an electric bus emit more GHG than producing a diesel bus?
Yes, but the lifetime emissions are much lower than diesel buses. Although GHG emissions for buses are difficult to measure and compare we can look at cars to compare EVs and fossil fueled vehicles.
Current estimates say that producing an EV emits about 50% – 100% more GHG than a fossil car due to the battery. This impact is quickly off-set by reduced GHG emissions in use. e-Buses are expected to run for 1,000,000 km over their lifetime, off-setting about 1850 tonnes of Co2 emissions.
There is nothing intrinsic about the emissions of battery production. Lead by companies like Tesla and Volkswagen, efforts are underway to decarbonize the battery supply chain so that emissions are reduced or eliminated at each step. You can read about Volkswagen’s efforts here.
When the time comes to buy electric buses, one of the factors that should be rated equally with cost and capabilities is the carbon footprint of bus production.
Aren't there a lot of components used in manufacturing e-buses that are bad for the environment?
The manufacturing process for the bus body is the same whether it is an e-bus or a diesel bus. The environmental impact differences are in the “fuel” source.
Modern EV batteries are very similar to batteries found in cell phones and other household devices. The most common chemistry, Lithium Ion, includes common elements such as lithium, nickel and cobalt. Cobalt has a poor reputation as a lot of supply comes from conflict zones and is not mined responsibly. Steps are being made to reduce the amount of cobalt in lithium batteries and some buses use lithium-Fe which has no cobalt. Tesla and Panasonic are close to eliminating cobalt from their batteries. Canada is rich in all the metals required for battery production, including cobalt.
Unlike lead acid or alkaline batteries, Lithium batteries are non-toxic and can be disposed in a land-fill. Battery recycling is a developing industry and it is now possible to recycle Li ion batteries economically.
Anybody just slightly up-to-date on modern rechargeable batters knows about LiFePo batteries which do not use cobalt, for example.