* Connecticut - As electric cars stall, a move to greener trucks and buses
--- Low gasoline prices and continuing performance issues have slowed the growth of electric car sales. But that has not stymied progress in electrifying larger vehicles, including garbage trucks, city buses, and medium-sized trucks used by freight giants like FedEx.
But while the adoption of electric cars has been hindered by high prices, limited range, a lack of charging stations, and competition from cheap gasoline, heavier-duty models are undergoing rapid innovation for applications like battery-powered city buses, delivery trucks, freight loaders, and ferries. Experts say that these electric workhorses can play an important role in decarbonizing transport, and could spin off technologies that benefit electric cars, a far larger — and, from a carbon perspective, more important — market.
The clang of garbage cans will still probably wake people way too early in the morning. But in Santa Rosa, California, at least, the roaring diesel engine will be quiet, replaced by a silent, electric motor.
The electric garbage trucks scheduled to begin rolling there this summer may be less alluring than the sporty vehicles that engineer Ian Wright helped design as co-founder of Tesla Motors...
... And then there is the crucial issue of whether the electricity is being produced by fossil fuels or renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power. Overall, the electric grid is growing greener, according to latest International Energy Agency report, which states that around 90 percent of new electricity production in 2015 came from renewable energy sources. Even China has cut its coal use by more than 10 percent since 2011. Still, nearly 70 percent of that country’s electricity is produced from coal. So, while electric vehicles generally have significantly lower emissions than conventional vehicles in places with relatively clean grids, like much of Europe, that is not the case in areas still generating electricity primarily from coal, like China, India, and Australia...
(Photo by Josh Hittleman - 1. Wrightspeed’s new electric powertrain can be installed as a retrofit to a standard diesel garbage truck, doubling mileage and lowering emissions up to 68 percent) - (Photo - 2. BYD unveiled its first electric double-decker bus earlier this month) -- New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A. - Yale Enviroment 360, by CHERYL KATZ - MARCH 24, 2016Labels: electric trucks, reports
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Ian Wright and his team are the future of transportation. Great technology.
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