London Banter - Walk-through trains

London Banter (https://www.londonbanter.co.uk/forum.php)

- London Transport (https://www.londonbanter.co.uk/london-transport/)

- - Walk-through trains (https://www.londonbanter.co.uk/london-transport/9004-walk-through-trains.html)

Walk-through trains

"Bruce" wrote in message

On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:31:15 +0100, "Recliner"
wrote:
"Bruce" wrote in message

On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:42:07 +0100, "Recliner"
wrote:

However, I think that electric trains are already so efficient that
the amount of improvement available can't be as much as cars, which
start from a much worse position. After all, you can't do as much
to improve the aerodynamics of a train as you can a car, and there
isn't an idling engine you could switch off at stations.

There is also a heck of an improvement coming in average fuel
consumption of new cars in the next few years. This will eventually
make them more than competitive on CO2 emissions with high speed
rail, which is very hungry for power, and much closer than they are
now to conventional rail.

The first commercially available volume production electric cars are
expected in 2010 from Nissan and Renault. Over the next decade,
they will revolutionise urban transport. Nissan's model will
include leasing the very expensive battery pack, which will make
the purchase price of the car competitive with comparable petrol
and diesel engined models while still costing at least 20% less to
run. CO2 emissions will be only about a third of those of
conventional cars, putting them on a par with conventional rail.

Let's put this into context. The Nissan Leaf is unlikely to reach
Europe before 2012, just before the date when you never cease
telling us that the UK will run out of electric power.

The Leaf has a claimed range of 100 miles, but most electric cars
achieve much less than the claimed range in normal driving. On a 240v
household supply, it will take eight hours to recharge, so for most
people, the maximum miles per day that they could do would be about
80, and maybe less if they want to be sure of getting home (after
all, you can't just pop in for a fill-up when the red light comes
on).

The 270kg Li-ion battery pack would add at least £6000 to the cost of
the car, so Nissan will lease them to customers for 'less than £100
per month', which implies that it will subsidise them (covering the
expensive manufacturing and recycling costs itself). That lease cost
would get a small diesel urban run-around about 800 miles, but you
still have to pay for the electricity for the electric car, on top
of the battery lease cost.

If you do up to 1000 miles per month (which is, realistically, all
the electric car is likely to be capable of), the Leaf is likely to
cost considerably more to run (battery lease+electricity cost) than a
conventional smallish car. On top of that, you have a car with a very
limited range, which cannot be refuelled on a whim, which won't be
very nice to drive (thanks to the heavy battery pack), with
uncompetitive performance. And if you do cane it, the battery life
really will plummet.

And that's before the government decides that motoring electricity
needs to be taxed at a higher rate, just like petrol and diesel
engined cars, or electricity is rationed, as you keep asserting. And
don't assume that electric cars will keep their exemption from road
tax and congestion charges once there's enough of them to matter.

Yes, I can really see it revolutionising urban transport, and driving
the railways with their fast, long distance electric trains into
extinction.

Rail has no answer to this, other than companies like Siemens
designing *out* the ridiculous excess weight that they had
previously designed *in* to their Desiros.

Yeah, the Nissan Leaf will surely eliminate the need for electric
trains.

I understand your scepticism, but the Nissan Leaf and its Renault
equivalent (the two companies are closely linked) will be the first
available mass production electric cars. You have to start somewhere,
and this is as good a place as any. Others will follow, but so far,
only Nissan/Renault has addressed the problem of the cost of the
batteries.

But you carefully missed my other point, that cars with petrol and
diesel engines are rapidly becoming more fuel efficient. Over the
last few years, the improvement in engine efficiency has been negated
by a weight increase, for mainly safety reasons. If there hadn't been
a significant improvement in efficiency, the fuel consumption would
have gone up, as with the lardbutt Desiros.

Now, there won't be further increases in weight, so future
improvements in engine efficiency will translate directly into
improvements in fuel economy, and these will be substantial. There
simply isn't the scope for trains to make this magnitude of
performance gains, so the CO2 consumption gap between trains and cars
will be substantially reduced.

That can only be a good thing, because rail could never cope with more
than a tiny proportion of the passenger traffic that currently goes by
road. Rail has 6% of the surface passenger-km, roads 94%. So even if
rail doubled its market share to 12%, the roads would still take 88%.
The chances of rail doubling its market share without massive
development of new lines are near-zero. Just look at the high cost of
Crossrail, and of high speed inter-city lines.

So it is in everyone's interests that cars become much more frugal and
emit far less CO2, because people aren't going to give up the freedom
of travelling in their own private, secure and comfortable air
conditioned space.

Yup, I agree with all that, and ic engined cars surely will get
dramatically more efficient in the coming years -- not so much because
of the weight issue, but because of pressure in the US market, which
previously was little concerned about fuel efficiency or the
environment. All manufacturers are now focused on this issue like never
before.

I'm just sceptical about the wide-eyed claims made for pure-electric (as
opposed to hybrid) and hydrogen cars, whose proponents conveniently
ignore the higher fixed costs and infrastructure issues.

Walk-through trains

Bruce wrote:

So it is in everyone's interests that cars become much more frugal and
emit far less CO2, because people aren't going to give up the freedom
of travelling in their own private, secure and comfortable air
conditioned space.

....until it's too expensive. Actually, quite a lot of people in London
have managed to give it up, haven't they?

There are other modes than rail; bus, walking and cycling to name three
- what the 94/6 split doesn't give you is
any idea of the relative length of journeys - obviously modal shifting
the shortest 6% of car journeys has less effect on CO2 emissions and
energy use than the longest 6% of car journeys. If I walked/cycled/got
the bus to Sainsbury's instead of driving to Tesco once in every two
shops, I've reduced my car use markedly, but it's probably only a total
of under 100 miles a year across about 50 trips. If I take the train to
Birmingham and back instead of driving, it's 200 miles less car use
straight off in two trips.

Tom

Walk-through trains

Bruce gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

I understand your scepticism, but the Nissan Leaf and its Renault
equivalent (the two companies are closely linked) will be the first
available mass production electric cars.

No, they won't. Not by a long chalk.

Walk-through trains

On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:56:35 +0100, "Recliner"
wrote:
wrote in message
On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:45:32 +0100
"Recliner" wrote:
Yes, that's a very good point. Imagine if every house in the street
was charging its electric car(s) overnight -- it's pretty unlikely
that the local sub-station and wiring could handle the load. It may
be OK if just one or two houses use 13amp sockets, but not if the
whole street is doing it for hours on end.

Also I wonder how many house fires they might end up causing if a few
hundred amps is put through ancient wiring for 12 hours without a
break.

I think the car needs no more than 13 amps from a 240v domestic supply
for eight hours for a full charge, or can be charged very much more
quickly using a 400v 3-phase supply (not available in many houses, of
course). So individual houses may be OK charging one electric car, but
the neighbourhood supply may run out of juice if they're all doing it at
once.

... which is why a charging infrastructure will be put in place. The
first scheme, in London, is being finalised.

Not only will electric cars save CO2, but there will be a massive
reduction in other pollutants, notable particulates and oxides of
nitrogen. Many UK cities are already in breach of current legal
limits on those pollutants, and the limits are about to be tightened
further.

So the electric car is the way to go; unlike electrifying the
railways, there will actually be a substantial CO2 benefit.

Walk-through trains

Bruce gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

... which is why a charging infrastructure will be put in place. The
first scheme, in London, is being finalised.

Uh-huh. Capable of supporting how many cars? Please bear in mind that few
people in London are guaranteed a parking space in the immediate vicinity
of their homes.

And why can't these Londoners use the superb public transport in place
across the city, for an even bigger benefit?

Not only will electric cars save CO2

Will it? Where's this electricity coming from, then?

Walk-through trains

Adrian wrote:
Bruce gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

... which is why a charging infrastructure will be put in place. The
first scheme, in London, is being finalised.

Uh-huh. Capable of supporting how many cars? Please bear in mind that few
people in London are guaranteed a parking space in the immediate vicinity
of their homes.

And why can't these Londoners use the superb public transport in place
across the city, for an even bigger benefit?

Not only will electric cars save CO2

Will it? Where's this electricity coming from, then?

Also, if you're saying we should all stop using the Tube and overground
rail for getting around London, where the hell's the road space coming
from? Using London as an example of why rail is unsuitable as a future
transport technology is like using Gordon Ramsay as an example of why
the British can't do cooking.

Tom

Walk-through trains

On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:58:20 +0100
Bruce wrote:
If the car is charging for 12 hours, you won't even need a full 13A
supply, so you are talking complete and utter rubbish.

Hmm.

13A * 240V = 3KW

3KW for 12 hours input assuming no loses is the same as 36KW (about 50hp)
output for 1 hour.

Call me cynical but....

B2003

Walk-through trains

On 12 Aug 2009 15:07:55 GMT, Adrian wrote:
Bruce gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

I understand your scepticism, but the Nissan Leaf and its Renault
equivalent (the two companies are closely linked) will be the first
available mass production electric cars.

No, they won't. Not by a long chalk.

Well there aren't *any* at the moment. All available electric cars,
from the £8299 G-Wizz to the £64000 Tesla Roadster, are low volume,
mostly handmade products. Only the Chevrolet Volt is anywhere near as
advanced (in terms of getting to mass production) as the
Nissan/Renault models, and the Volt isn't expected until at least a
year after them. Besides, it's a hybrid and not a full electric car.

Production of the Nissan Leaf is imminent and it is due to go on sale
in the USA and Japan in 2010. The Volt was originally announced for a
2011 release but with all GM's problems, that has slipped, probably
until 2013.

Walk-through trains

On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:10:08 +0100
Bruce wrote:
Not only will electric cars save CO2, but there will be a massive
reduction in other pollutants, notable particulates and oxides of
nitrogen. Many UK cities are already in breach of current legal
limits on those pollutants, and the limits are about to be tightened
further.

Hmm, now I wonder why that is. Could it be the popularity of diesel engines
in cars which were the ecomentalists engine of choice only a few years ago?

What was it they all chanted? We shouldn't use nasty petrol engines which give
off tiny amounts of particulates and virtually no gases other than CO2 and
water vapour from their catalysed exhaust, no , lets use something which
belches out buckets of filth even with filters but outputs ever so slightly
less CO2 per km. *sigh*

B2003