Electric Refuse Lorry trial

[Bugtownboy]

Apologies for the ads !

https://www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk ... -breaking/

[Oldgreybeard]

The link seems to throw an error:

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Is this the link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-56171555

[Bugtownboy]

Nope, it’s the results of that.

I’ll try and give a synopsis later.

[Fintray]

This one maybe? https://www.chardandilminsternews.co.uk ... -breaking/

[Bugtownboy]

Yep

[openspaceman]

One thing about our crewcabs and welfare vehicles is that they needed webasto type diesel fired heaters for when they were stationary otherwise the guys would run the engines all shift. I can imagine the crew of this waste wagon similarly need a warm refuge during the working day and that was costing range.

[dan_b]

A few years ago I got to visit the Waterloo Electric Bus Depot for a work project and got talking to the service manager - the first batch of fully electric buses they received had a Webasto diesel generator for the bus's heating system as they weren't sure about range on the routes.

Quite a few members of the public complained that they had seen exhaust fumes from a "fully electric bus" and thought they were being conned!

The second batch of buses didn't have Webastos as they found the buses had ample range and indeed performed better than predicted. Some drivers were even competing with each other as to who could use the least amount of energy in a route.

[Mr Gus]

Can the webasto type heaters run happily on veg oil variant?

As ever with a council I wonder how much actual expertise there is on these projects, refurb is one thing, battery chemistry type another, ..Bin lorries break down weekly, often due to compactor hydraulics, so we need a clear "normal refuse vehicle problem" & new Bin-Bev breakdown of te breakdowns to underdtand (along with spec & info on drivers getting retrained, even if its an ev car as to braking / regen etc, bet that hyd-ram is eating up battery in itself.

How is it being charged, is the cpuncil investing in motorway high charge delivery as part of its infrastructure & green transport for the area, how many big commercial lorry chaging hubs for hauliers are needed?

Something each county needs to consider rather than neglect it like they have car charging, esp where low pollution zones are concerned!
In our locale, the solar car park, has plenty of space off the A14 to become an E-lorry & E-bus hub

Nothing in that piece, sadly, ..bet yr boots councils don't want either the headache, nor the revenue stream ..dumb really.

[Oldgreybeard]

Can the webasto type heaters run happily on veg oil variant?

As ever with a council I wonder how much actual expertise there is on these projects, refurb is one thing, battery chemistry type another, ..Bin lorries break down weekly, often due to compactor hydraulics, so we need a clear "normal refuse vehicle problem" & new Bin-Bev breakdown of te breakdowns to underdtand (along with spec & info on drivers getting retrained, even if its an ev car as to braking / regen etc, bet that hyd-ram is eating up battery in itself.

How is it being charged, is the cpuncil investing in motorway high charge delivery as part of its infrastructure & green transport for the area, how many big commercial lorry chaging hubs for hauliers are needed?

Something each county needs to consider rather than neglect it like they have car charging, esp where low pollution zones are concerned!
In our locale, the solar car park, has plenty of space off the A14 to become an E-lorry & E-bus hub

Nothing in that piece, sadly, ..bet yr boots councils don't want either the headache, nor the revenue stream ..dumb really.

Yes they can, with the proviso that it needs to be converted to biodiesel to reduce the viscosity. I tried this around 15 years ago, when a friend and I were making biodiesel and experimenting with running a Lister on cleaned WVO. Clean WVO works fine in the Lister, as long as it's pre-heated initially, when first starting the engine, but wouldn't work in his Webasto heater.

We both played around making some biodiesel, not hard at all, just a bit of "bucket chemistry" with WVO from the (chip shop and Chinese restaurant) as the base and that worked perfectly in the Webasto. The problem with WVO on it's own was that it was too thick for the little pulse pump in these things to handle, even when pre-heated. They really only seem to like fairly thin fuel oils.

[Mr Gus]

Thanks OGB