| Author | Message | ||
| JW Smythe (Jwsmythe)
Rating: N/A |
Ok, stupid question. Has anyone looked into doing an electric vehicle conversion with a bus? I know some fleets are doing hybrid and electrics, but I haven't found anywhere that gives specs on the parts they use (what motor, where to get the transmission adapter, etc). I've found lots of car sites on the matter, but none of them put out anywhere near the power that would be required to even start moving a bus. I don't think 50hp would even make it start rolling. I was just thinking about it. The DD weighs like 2,700 pounds. A 300hp electric motor weighs like 200 pounds. Ditching the diesel fuel tank gives quite a bit of space for batteries. If I filled up two bays with as many batteries as I could stuff in them, that could possibly get it on the road for a day or two between charges. I found one site saying that a national park was doing them, with 16 hours on the road and 8 hours parked/charging. Again, they had no details of what they were using to make it work. I guess they're trade secrets by whoever is doing the conversions. Another question would be, can the Allison V730 handle an input of 3500RPM? I was just thinking that it would save me changing the gears, if an electric motor would compensate by spinning faster than the DD motor. It would definately make a 40' bus more early morning campground friendly, if the only noise people could hear was the tires rolling on the gravel.  | ||
| mel4104 Rating: N/A |
well first i would like to know who your banker is?the bus builders have spent millions of $$trying to put one together and even now there is one that is half and half. the battries as worth over $20,000 and are good for limited flat street driving and must be charged every nite. also have you ever listened to a 300 hp electic motor run and the time it takes to get up to rpm and how long it takes to stop turning after the power is turned off. so at nite you will have to have a power pole beside you or a good size gen set which should draw gun fire at 3 AM. so i am sure that there are a lot of us out here that would like to see what it looks like if you ever convert one that way and as is said --it is your bus so convert it your way--- | ||
| truthhunter@shaw.ca Rating: N/A |
As long as you can live with puddle jumping short distances (you never have to go far to find something worth stopping for in truth). Perhaps a hybrid with a very small diesel DC charging system ( thermalcoupled electric "generators" as well as cogen for heat recovery and running a A/C compressor for hot days comfort)would be reasonably functional if say one had to replace the drivetrain anyhow and had picked up a dirt cheap mini-traction motor from the railway, and maybe a wack of surplus photovoltaic cells, Hell might even be able to call it a eviro prototype and get corporate donations (think billboards) and government enviro grants if they had charitable registrations. You might try and follow New Flyer Industries (also Winnipeg born, just like MCI)and there Electric Trolleys and forays into hybrid's such as there heavy prototyping with fuel cells, and hybird you may find a lot of there experience adaptable to your prospective. So nice to see the board lite up with innovative discussions lately, overcoming the inherant & comnpetative flaws of the Manhattan Project and it's "segregation for secrecy" policy. Just imagined and communicate and let us see what can be IF ONLY the resources can be accessed! | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
Rating: N/A |
Look what Allison is doing. Big bucks but pretty darned neat... http://www.allisontransmissions.com/publications/pubs/SA3592EN.jsp (Allison's site is a p.o.s. for a lot of browsers. If you can't get it there, I posted it on my site here: ) http://www.heartmagic.com/SA3592EN.pdf | ||
| David Hartley (Drdave)
Rating: N/A |
One of these sold at an auction in Tampa 2 years ago for about $2,000 and included a spare battery pack. the battery packs wieghed over 4,500 lbs. and produced 362 volts d.c. The air conditioning was LP gas powered 4 cyl. http://www.ebus.com/ Dave.... | ||
| Kylexisxrad (Kylexisxrad)
Rating: N/A |
here in sacramento, ca our little suburb of elk grove just started their own transit system using reconditioned Regional Transit gillig phantoms with half/half systems. they sent them down to some company in socal, i cant remember which though. but im sure they could help you with info. www.e-tran.org | ||
| Gary Carter Rating: N/A |
Years ago Russia was running electic buses in Moscow. They had a constant speed engine running on on board generator. | ||
| Tom Caffrey (Pvcces)
Rating: N/A |
The busses in Yosemite were like that. The engine that you hear when the bus comes to a stop is the auxiliary, powering the A/C and the charging system. When the bus started away from the curb, there was no change in the engine sound. When we hit a straight stretch and picked up speed, another engine started running. I didn't feel any lurch from engagement of the engine, but the acceleration increased considerably. I asked the driver how many engines the bus had and he said three; I gathered that there were two that were run on fuel, and the electric drive. With regenerative braking, I can see where the auxiliary would have no problem keeping the batteries charged. It was all stop and go in the park. For what it's worth. Tom Caffrey PD4106-2576 Suncatcher Ketchikan, Alaska | ||
| JW Smythe (Jwsmythe)
Rating: N/A |
Tom, Someone else wrote to me via Email. He said the EV fleet at Yosemite is gone. They performed very poorly, and spent more time being towed back to the shop than they did in service. That was the national park that I referenced in the original message. I had only read the press releases and some PR material. The good stuff makes the PR material. The failures are usually quietly ignored. |