Id suggest its very patchy, down here in deepest Kent they are still very rare. If you see them itll be DFLs at the weekend visiting family or their second homes.
I can cheat a bit on that tally. Our local railway station is about 200 yards from our front door. Between, is a Volvo dealership, with an abundance of EVs.
I can cheat a bit on that tally. Our local railway station is about 200 yards from our front door. Between, is a Volvo dealership, with an abundance of EVs.
Do you need a clue that a bus is about to move? Surely if it stops and picks people up it's expected that the bus will move off once the last passenger has boarded.
I wish that you'd stop blaming this incident on the fact that the bus was electric; it was simply poor driving. It's highly likely that if the driver was the on/off type, they'd do the same whatever means of propulsion. It's possible to knock someone off their feet when a diesel vehicle accelerates or brakes harshly.
Well we all know buses move - obviously. BUT should a driver wait for people to sit down or at least clear the stairs - the available seats are not always right next to the door. I was on the stairs - how else does one get to the upper deck ?. How else do you propose one uses a bus if one has to assume it will move at any instant after boarding and therefore no liability rests with the bus operator to check where people are ?.
I can assure you that the acceleration of an electric bus is a lot greater than the acceleration of a diesel bus.
Which is already implement with TFL. Most new buses will have the ability to limit acceleration, and some can also limit jerk (rate of change of acceleration). But generally it is up to the operator to either specify what they want on purchase, or manage it themselves.
Interesting. So perhaps things have changed since my accident on 30/01/2024.
I suppose staircases always used to be across the back of the bus going back far enough in time. So acceleration/braking would just throw someone against the side wall rather than straight down.
Part M building regs (Accessibility) has a limit of 12 steps between landings, for rest and recovery. There is specified dimensions for landing sizes etc. but I am an engineer not an architect so don't get involved too much in these things.
Yes. I cannot recall what the stairs looked like on older busses except my school bus days back in 1965-1969 when it was something akin to a route master but outside London. I do not remember ever going upstairs but in those days of course the air up there was very unpleasant, chokeingly so !. - only suitable for those wanting to kill themselves with tobacco !.
The acceleration possible with an electric bus is a lot greater. It is significantly more dangerous than the bus at top speed (except if an emergency stop intervenes). It is also when the passenger is most likely to be still moving
I would say that software management of acceleration and especially the 'jerk rate' is essential. I don't know whether this is already applied to any of the existing electric buses. I would be surprised if the extra acceleration that electric traction would permit would improve passenger journey times to any significant degree, given the low average traffic speeds in urban areas and the small fraction of the journey they would represent on longer interurban or rural routes.
Good point about negligible impact of subdued acceleration.
I believe that for several years now, electric and hybrid cars have had to be fitted with an audible warning that sounds when they're moving at low speed. When I bought my hybrid in 2020 it was still an option (which I ticked) - I was a bit concerned that it might be a loud warble or similar, but in fact it's not audible from inside the car. I think they became mandatory a year or so later.
The green strip annoys me. There is no such thing as a "green" motor vehicle just various levels of grey. An electrical spark symbol i would be more appropriate way of indicating an EV
Not a new problem. the Bradford trolley buses in the fifties' were notorious for their rapid acceleration.
A look at the statistics shows that fires are much more likely with combustion engines than with EVs. Unfortunately, people seem to increasingly believe the widespread misinformation about EVs and suspect them first and foremost in the event of a fire.
It's not a problem at all, - no need to get annoyed. An electrical spark symbol might need to be stylised to avoid confusion with the registration numbers/letters, - another excuse to raise their number plate price. A simple green strip is just another colour trim for the plate, like a yellow background or red characters.
