Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

michaels

QrizB said:

Martyn1981 said:

I was reading an article on BEV locomotives, which is an interesting idea, and will hopefully expand, but it led me on to another article which might have greater short term potential.
The idea is for 'battery boxcars', which could be used to power the current fleet of diesel electric loco's. Basically, instead of running the diesel generator to power the electric drive system, the existing stock could be modified to run off a battery boxcar instead (or as well as, almost like a hybrid).

Closer to home, electrification of the network has stalled due to rising costs (and the lower utilisation of many of the provincial lines). Hybrid locos could be of some benefit there; a Paddington-to-Penzance train, for example, could run pantographs to Swindon then batteries to Paddington.

Here's a blog post on the topic (it was a quick Google, there may be better ones).

This was my immediate thought - I seem to remember the electrification of the London to Bristol main line was halted because of an issue with a tunnel and planning permission for the overhead lines - if instead electric trains had sufficient batteries to cope even a couple of miles it could make an electrification project hugely cheaper and more straight forward.  It could also allow trains to run on routes where it made economic sense to electrify the 'core route' but not some of the small branch lines where volume was too low - no need for a diesel electric just a standard electric with 50 miles of battery range - that could even be added as a retrofit to existing rolling stock.

shinytop

michaels said:

QrizB said:

Martyn1981 said:

I was reading an article on BEV locomotives, which is an interesting idea, and will hopefully expand, but it led me on to another article which might have greater short term potential.
The idea is for 'battery boxcars', which could be used to power the current fleet of diesel electric loco's. Basically, instead of running the diesel generator to power the electric drive system, the existing stock could be modified to run off a battery boxcar instead (or as well as, almost like a hybrid).

Closer to home, electrification of the network has stalled due to rising costs (and the lower utilisation of many of the provincial lines). Hybrid locos could be of some benefit there; a Paddington-to-Penzance train, for example, could run pantographs to Swindon then batteries to Paddington.

Here's a blog post on the topic (it was a quick Google, there may be better ones).

This was my immediate thought - I seem to remember the electrification of the London to Bristol main line was halted because of an issue with a tunnel and planning permission for the overhead lines - if instead electric trains had sufficient batteries to cope even a couple of miles it could make an electrification project hugely cheaper and more straight forward.  It could also allow trains to run on routes where it made economic sense to electrify the 'core route' but not some of the small branch lines where volume was too low - no need for a diesel electric just a standard electric with 50 miles of battery range - that could even be added as a retrofit to existing rolling stock.

Wouldn't they need a uniformed man with a long pole to disconnect and reconnect the power at either end of the tunnel?  

Exiled_Tyke

michaels said:

QrizB said:

Martyn1981 said:

I was reading an article on BEV locomotives, which is an interesting idea, and will hopefully expand, but it led me on to another article which might have greater short term potential.
The idea is for 'battery boxcars', which could be used to power the current fleet of diesel electric loco's. Basically, instead of running the diesel generator to power the electric drive system, the existing stock could be modified to run off a battery boxcar instead (or as well as, almost like a hybrid).

Closer to home, electrification of the network has stalled due to rising costs (and the lower utilisation of many of the provincial lines). Hybrid locos could be of some benefit there; a Paddington-to-Penzance train, for example, could run pantographs to Swindon then batteries to Paddington.

Here's a blog post on the topic (it was a quick Google, there may be better ones).

This was my immediate thought - I seem to remember the electrification of the London to Bristol main line was halted because of an issue with a tunnel and planning permission for the overhead lines - if instead electric trains had sufficient batteries to cope even a couple of miles it could make an electrification project hugely cheaper and more straight forward.  It could also allow trains to run on routes where it made economic sense to electrify the 'core route' but not some of the small branch lines where volume was too low - no need for a diesel electric just a standard electric with 50 miles of battery range - that could even be added as a retrofit to existing rolling stock.

The latest Hitatchi 800 class trains (as used by Great Western and LNER) are hybrids: the diesel back up for power outages or as you suggest on branch lines.  So it would appear to be a sensible idea as mentioned by Martyn to replace the diesel unit with batteries for a more sustainable solution 

Verdigris

Wouldn't they need a uniformed man with a long pole to disconnect and reconnect the power at either end of the tunnel?

The Paddington Penzance trains are bi-modal. They use pantographs on the electrified sections and then change over to diesel-electric once they leave the main Bristol line. They just retract the pantographs when the wires stop.

Swan_Valley

shinytop said:

Wouldn't they need a uniformed man with a long pole to disconnect and reconnect the power at either end of the tunnel?  

I understand they tried installing the electrified lines in the Severn tunnel but the supports started corroding so quickly it was not practical to continue. A battery system, could help overcome such problem areas.

JKenH

VW halts electric vehicle production over supply chain issues

For Volkswagen, Germany’s Automobilwoche reports that the automaker was able to prioritize chip supply to electric vehicles:“So far, VW’s e-car production has come through the chip crisis rather lightly. While the production lines at the Golf and Tiguan regularly come to a standstill in Wolfsburg, VW’s e-cars were preferably supplied with semiconductors. The production of electric cars in Zwickau and Dresden therefore continued without major interruptions.”But it looks like the company can’t protect its EV production from the chip shortage anymore.

https://electrek.co/2021/11/16/vw-halts-electric-vehicle-production-over-supply-chain-issues/

CKhalvashi

Exiled_Tyke said:

Grumpy_chap said:

CKhalvashi said:

This isn't a BIK issue, but the current benefit rate is 0% of £3500.

https://www.gov.uk/expenses-and-benefits-company-vans/work-out-the-value

Thank you - far better than my (incorrect) understanding.  Though, as you say, BIK is not the factor in your case.

To be clear there should never be a BIK on a vehicle which has no private use by employees. Vans only have business use and so there should be no BIK. Where a business (or more accurately their employee) is at risk of having a BIK assessed on their use of such a vehicle then employers will ensure that they stick to the rules to avoid any BIK. So this ends up being a non-issue. 

Some vans can have considerable private use.

My father used to take one of the company vans away with us on holiday as a teenager due to 2 vans of the company he was working being double cab and having significant storage space (Transit LWB in 1990s) on the condition he replaced the fuel he used.

Whether tax was declared and paid on this event I don't know (and it's not my business), but I'd hazard a guess that the answer likely was no (this was a small business).

At a 0% BIK, I am happy for staff to take vehicles home within reason as long as we don't need them at that time and they let us know for paperwork purposes. I'm not so happy when BIK comes into effect though as we have our own responsibilities in relation to these and I'm not happy to mess HMRC around.

This is veering significantly off the course of BEVs though, so best keep the thread on topic.

orrery

QrizB said:

Closer to home, electrification of the network has stalled due to rising costs (and the lower utilisation of many of the provincial lines). Hybrid locos could be of some benefit there; a Paddington-to-Penzance train, for example, could run pantographs to Swindon then batteries to Penzance.

Indeed. The electrified line has just been extended north beyond Bedford, and the massive infrastructure hit (and therefore, cost) was the replacement of bridges. The main bridge just north of the station was out for nearly 2 years, with the re-routing of utilities, building of a pedestrian bridge (only temporary of course), demolition of the old, building the new etc. It happened in just about every village north of Bedford. The new bridge doesn't even have a cycle track over it - just a cycle painted on the carriageway.

Currently, East-West rail is proposed to be built without electrification.

In both cases the easy stretches could have been electrified, without changing tunnels and bridges using battery electric hybrids.

Odd isn't it - electrifying rail is just an easy win for the environment, but we don't seem to be able to get our heads around it. The Swiss have electrified theirs, even the near vertical ones up mountains which were done decades ago.

shinytop

orrery said:

QrizB said:

Closer to home, electrification of the network has stalled due to rising costs (and the lower utilisation of many of the provincial lines). Hybrid locos could be of some benefit there; a Paddington-to-Penzance train, for example, could run pantographs to Swindon then batteries to Penzance.

Indeed. The electrified line has just been extended north beyond Bedford, and the massive infrastructure hit (and therefore, cost) was the replacement of bridges. The main bridge just north of the station was out for nearly 2 years, with the re-routing of utilities, building of a pedestrian bridge (only temporary of course), demolition of the old, building the new etc. It happened in just about every village north of Bedford. The new bridge doesn't even have a cycle track over it - just a cycle painted on the carriageway.

Currently, East-West rail is proposed to be built without electrification.

In both cases the easy stretches could have been electrified, without changing tunnels and bridges using battery electric hybrids.

Odd isn't it - electrifying rail is just an easy win for the environment, but we don't seem to be able to get our heads around it. The Swiss have electrified theirs, even the near vertical ones up mountains which were done decades ago.

I'm no railway buff but wasn't most of the current electrification done decades ago, i.e. long before climate change was known about?  I assume we (and the Swiss) did it for reliability, cost and other operational reasons, including the fact it was better than steam.  It wasn't even much of an environmental gain until recently because most electricity came from coal.   

I agree it's a win now, and hopefully we will get our heads around it.     

Swan_Valley

CMA to open up electric vehicle charging competition on motorways

CMA action is paving the way for greater investment, greater choice, and competition on prices for electric vehicle drivers, by opening up competition in the charging sector.

Press Release today on the Gov.uk website