Virtually every major city in Germany is hyped up to introduce e-buses to replace their diesel buses. If you go and bring up the topic....most all run in the 500,000 to 600,000 Euro range. So everyone seems to be super-positive (if they are political in nature, or attached to some journalistic effort).
So I noticed today via Focus News.....a short 12-line story.
It came to pass that Trier got their first e-bus here about a month ago. They checked everything out, and it was given a route around two weeks ago. In the last couple of days.....they've brought the bus back into the shop and are somewhat mystified.
Because of the cold weather, they've come to notice that when you turn on the heat enough to keep passengers warm....it sucks the 'hell' out of the batteries. Then this odd problem came up....if the heat is on max, there's no real pick-up and go....no acceleration.
So the company that built the bus....is there and surveying the software. My guess is that they have a software program that says if the battery 'drain' is X, then you can't ask the motor to deliver more acceleration because it'd just drain faster. But they probably will find some way of turning this function off. But the faster drain of the battery? That might be a more curious problem.
What happens if you end up with buses that can only run eight months out of the year? Well...you'd have to go and buy diesel buses. Or you'd have to go and buy more extra battery buses that can allow for more frequent charging (each single shift). Naturally, this would mean more cost (yes, you the consumer).
My curiosity? Well....Wiesbaden is supposed to start getting their e-buses shortly. And I expect the same problem to occur here.
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