Bendy buses should be brought back London Assembly Transport Committee

[jon0844]

An interesting 'comment' piece appeared in the Times a few days ago; I'm afraid I got rid of the paper and can't recollect the name of the author, but his main point was that, as an electric car owner in Inner London, his travel to and from work now cost virtually nothing, as opposed to the nearly £6 he used to pay on his Oyster every day. He doesn't have to pay the Congestion Charge, didn't have to pay any Road Tax up to April this year, gets 4 hours parking in Westminster for the same price as a diesel/petrol driver would pay for 10 minutes and even has (at the moment) a free re-charge point. He admits to being quite well-off, and doesn't really see why he and his kind should be the recipients of such perks, to which I can only say Hear! Hear!

Well, as electric cars take off, he probably won't get those perks anymore. Tax relief will go. It will be harder to find charging points. Parking won't be free. The congestion charge will apply....

I guess it does mean that given electric cars aren't that affordable yet, the more affluent benefit more, even if that isn't intentional.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I guess it does mean that given electric cars aren't that affordable yet, the more affluent benefit more, even if that isn't intentional.

Long-term not, though - it's priming the market, which will include availability of cheaper used vehicles filtering through.

 

[jon0844]

Long-term not, though - it's priming the market, which will include availability of cheaper used vehicles filtering through.

I do wonder what the second hand market will be like for electric cars. The batteries being such an expensive component, which has a limited shelf life and if you can imagine them being sold by second hand car dealers, and private sellers, how will people have any idea of what condition the batteries are in?

I intend to buy an electric car one day, but price isn't the only reason I'm holding off for now.

 

[Wolfie]

I do wonder what the second hand market will be like for electric cars. The batteries being such an expensive component, which has a limited shelf life and if you can imagine them being sold by second hand car dealers, and private sellers, how will people have any idea of what condition the batteries are in?

I intend to buy an electric car one day, but price isn't the only reason I'm holding off for now.

Absolutely correct. Indeed, to bring things partly back on topic, the battery life issue is exactly the problem many of the early hybrid buses had e.g. the useless Roasters:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-33569460

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/tra...armful-particles-than-old-buses-10412858.html

 

[radamfi]

how will people have any idea of what condition the batteries are in?

Presumably they can be tested. I have had my electric bike battery tested. There are numerous companies in the Netherlands which will take your bike battery, test it, and if the capacity is below a certain level they will replace the cells inside it. Cheaper than buying a new battery from the manufacturer.

 

[Jordan Adam]

2017 marks 25 years of Artic operation in Aberdeen, Scotland.

This started off with the well known K1GRT in 1992, Aberdeen is still served by a fleet of Artics new in 2005 and out of anything they work better now than they did when new. The main reasoning for getting rid of Artics outside London and Aberdeen was due to speed bumps damaging the turntables. But i do question if that's more really down to the way they're driven, the routes they are on up here have plenty of tight turns along with steep hills and speed bumps. Yet they seem to operate perfectly fine. There was reliability issues in their younger life but as mentioned already they are operating without issues now. While they only really operate on 4 main routes (1/1A/2 & X40) they have been used on every route on the network apart from the 19 and the 20 (This is down to the terminus at one end of both routes requiring a reverse that would be impossible in an Artic.).

I think the reality of it is that Artics work in some places and don't in others. Although i think maintenance is another factor as Artics are generally speaking higher maintenance.

I'm refering the joke in First Scotland and Dublin Bus who have a massive tri-axle bus that can take over 100 people.

As someone who lives on a route in Aberdeen which is served by the single door Tri-axle deckers you mention i can inform you that it works perfectly fine. the reason for this is because at the large majority of stops there's only a few people getting on or off, the 1 door system works perfectly fine here. All you'd get out of having a dual door system is 4 less seats.

 

[gallafent]

how will people have any idea of what condition the batteries are in?

Toyota hybrids have a “hybrid health check” at each normal service, which checks the function of the entire hybrid drive system including the battery.

http://blog.toyota.co.uk/toyota-hybrid-health-check — «We investigate the status and condition of your Toyota “traction” battery.».

Note that this also extends the battery warranty up to 10 years if servicing is kept up — and they still carry on doing the check at each service after 10 years, though you no longer get the warranty extension.

One may check the service record directly with Toyota for any given car through the “My Toyota” section of the website, once registered.

If a car you're thinking of buying doesn't have that record, then Toyota will do the check for you for £39.

I'd imagine a pure electric car would have a similar health check on the battery carried out at each service, or available as a service from a service dealer for a similar small fee.

So that's how people can have a very good idea of the battery condition when buying an electric (or hybrid) car — and, as an aside, I can vouch for the traction battery in a Prius still passing happily at ten years old, at least …