Since the cops got my car I’ve been bussing fairly regularly, and the Tainan City fleet has just gone all electric (at least on my route).
More comfortable than the (generally fairly knackered-seeming) diesels they replaced, with smoother braking, maybe down to regenerative braking systems smoothing out the driver input.
However, I’ve seen a few video clips of buses going up and they went up very quickly.
Buses here are usually packed,(at least on my routes) with lots of shopping trolleys and limited mobility oldsters.
Maybe not very survivable, but I havnt seen anything on fatalities so far. Three went up in London recently, with no one hurt.
Heres Uncle Tony on exploding buses. He goes on a bit, as is his style, so maybe just watch the two bus boom clips
For a really badly written, technically illiterate discussion of the topic, you need to consult a lawyer. Presumably if they could have mentioned deaths, they would have.
Probably not an electric bus, given that the fire started at the rear where diesel tour buses tend to keep the engine, and the nature of the flames.
Also electrics may not have the range for tour bus duty
Electrics seem to go up quicker, and are extremely difficult to extinguish, probably impossible on a freeway where I’d guess there isnt access to mains water fire hydrants
fairly free of journo or leggo (?) BS. Looked at the bus bit.
No fatalities known to them at the time of writing, though it would be hard to argue that doesn’t involve a liberal dose of good luck.
Incidentally, the “pantographic charging station” illustrated comes pretty close to inventing the trolley bus. Problem solved.
That appears to be an Australian Fire Services site. They seem to like the fact (surprising to me) that buses mostly have their batteries on the roof, giving better access and a bit more evac time, though I was reminded of Colnel Kurtz and his “We train young men to drop fire on people, But their commanders won’t allow them to write ‘fucked’ on their busses because it’s obscene”" line. More or less.
Heres another Australian site.
He notes long term health risks from the toxic fumes, which wont impress Taiwanese, who are basically oblivious to the already grim levels of “winter” air pollution
Too communism for western-esque societies though, the wheel has to be reinvented in a socially-desirable fashion by a hipster in New York who will then be convicted of fraud six uwars later.
