Why Electric Buses Are Far More Important Than Teslas

We've all got used to the idea that making the world a cleaner, greener, safer and smarter place can start by cleaning up our transportation choices.

For many people, that means swapping their internal combustion engined car for an electric one. 

But the impact of electric cars disappears into insignificance when compared to eh impact another electric vehicle could have on the world: electric buses. 

Watch the video above to find out why, like, comment and subscribe, and support us using the links below.

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[bigbadjohn]

The key thing is that in city centres the high density of buses, mostly idling, impacts air quality. In one area of London a trial using electric and hybrid buses reduced pollution levels below the critical level. While it will take some years to change the whole fleet, putting the electric buses in the most polluted areas makes sense.

[steveurbach]

Buses stop and accelerate briskly frequently. Acceleration is where the emissions peak. E-Buses reduce this and have no emissions while taking on passengers.
Just look at all the places that have had electric trams for decades. A plugin Bus gets rid of the tether to the overhead (or 3rd rail). And thinking outside the current box: There is room for a couple of KW of PV's on the roofs to power accessories during the day

[bkrider]

I live in Zhuhai in southwestern China near Macau and Hong Kong, and most of the public buses are electric, with charge stations at their terminal stops all over the place. I can tell you that the difference in ride between electric and ice bus is night and day: smoother, quieter, faster acceleration, much less stress for the driver who no longer has to shift gears all day long. Best of all, when you are waiting at a bus stop for your number to come along, buses for other routes slow down, stop, and take off with very little sound and absolutely no fumes! About half the taxis are electric, and other "smart car" style cars are running around. Electric bicycles, segues and small motorbikes have been dominant here since I first arrived 5 years ago. I'm still wondering why they aren't so common in the United States because here they are cheap, fast and easy to use. As far as EVs are concerned, China is about 5 to 10 years ahead of the US, with the exception of Tesla of course.

[MarkSBurgunder]

School buses are another type of bus that are a perfect example where an electric bus makes a lot of sense.

From my experience driving school buses on a number of different routes and different locations, none of these buses do more than 150km per trip, with my current route (and many others I have driven before) doing less than 50 km per trip.


These short trip distances and the fact that most of these buses are not doing any work, i.e. sitting in a depot, between the morning and afternoon trips, school buses in generally wouldn't even need huge battery capacity as they could be recharge during the day while sitting in the depot.


Best part is, that here in sunny Queensland we've got a lot of sunshine on most days which means that electric school buses could basically be recharged with "free" electrons from the sun.

What this means is that for a school bus operator with electric buses and enough solar or other renewable energey sources their main expenses would end up being an upfront capital expenditure (capex) and the operational expenses (opex) would be largely diminished. This in turn making budgeting a bit easier... and what business wouldn't like that!


To be honest, I believe any school bus operator buying a new fossil fueled bus now is just plain crazy!

[TillDerWilly]

Also, don't undererstimate the noise pollution of ICE buses.

[larshelmin]

Electric buses are coming to several cities in southern Sweden fast now.
Since 2016, city of Ängelholm has 60% BEV buses, first as test before other cities. Landskrona has gone 100% electric since February, Malmö has one bus line electric, Helsingborg will in summer get one main bus line electric, Ystad will in summer get EV buses, Trelleborg will go 100% electric i December...
One thing I almost never hear about is that electric buses have a much lower noise level than diesel buses, noise pollution is an argument as good as any!

[Chilukar]

For once this is something that we are on track with where I live (Chile). We have recently bought the largest electric bus fleet in Latin America: 200 to start with. The plan is to eventually change all 6600 busses in Santiago and that this will push regional providers to electrify.

[rowanbroekman]

They also have the perfect driving style for electric driving, speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down, all day long.

[cretumarius]

Exactly busses and truck should be the first city vehicles that go 100% electric

[GreenJimll]

As a regular bus user (I can't drive) I'd love to see more electric buses operating.here. I've nudged our local bus company but so far no luck. Hopefully the economic argument will win them over when they next have a fleet refresh.

[AS-lnpl]

We just got our first electric bus here in a small city in Norway!

[rahuljha]

in india 125+GWH of electricity will be from solar in 2022

[TassieEV]

Great episode Nikki. Wish my local Metro Service had any leadership, wrote them once and their answer was 'clean diesel' at the time, was before the big Diesel-Gate scandal with VW so whether they still think that unsure. I also ride my bicycle and hate when buses go past, noisy, smelly and horrible. Look forward to the day my local Metro service is told to switch as they won't go voluntarily into the future that I can bet on.

[solentbum]

In Beijing they have some rather good trolley buses that also have a battery . Giving an off line capability and allowing flexibility of local routing . They also have self connecting connectors which can go online without the buses stopping.
Glad to say they are looking at trolley buses returning to Portsmouth (UK) in the future.

[webstertippingpoint]

I'm from a small city in China, all buses here have been switched to electricity, they are noiseless, cleaner, ppl love them.

[jamespaul]

Excellent video Nikki. Another benefit is busses may give many people their first experience with an electric vehicle, thereby increasing awareness and encouraging greater adoption of electric cars or ebikes for those in the market for a personal vehicle.

[wobby]

Castellon in Spain uses trolley buses which pick up power through an arm up onto a cable above to charge it’s on board battery pack, Then run through the narrow streets on pure electric from said battery’s before recharging when outside the centre of the city whilst travelling through the suburbs, it’s a brilliant system similar to the old London trolley buses of the passed.

[robsengahay]

It’s hilarious that when I click on your videos and others such as Fully Charged I always get an advert for an ICE car. The algorithm not fully functioning 😂

[samguapo]

Actually electric trains are way ahead but people don't seem to notice that they're electric :) . With millions of people travelling in trains every single day, for most countries, the most popular form of transport is electric (the train).

[porirvian]

We got 30 electric double-decker buses here in Wellington, and they seem to be doing well despite the steep hills around the city. I adore how quiet they are, especially as they accelerate down the street, the only noises you hear are the tyres and a slight humming of the electrics.