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https://reasonstobecheerful.world/wisconsin-electric-buses-pass-brutal-cold-weather-test/>
"Jonathan Mertzig was wary when Madison rolled out a fleet of 62 electric buses
in the fall of 2024. The city had tested a few of them four years earlier, and
it had not gone well. Winter in Wisconsin gets mighty cold, and batteries do
not like the cold.
“Operationally, they were a nightmare,” said Mertzig, a member of the Madison
Area Bus Advocates. “Every time you got on one there would be an alarm going
off. You never knew when one was going to die in the middle of the road.”
Cities across the country have experienced similar growing pains while
electrifying public transit. A study conducted in Ithaca, New York, found that
range can plummet by about half when the mercury hits 24 to 32 degrees
Fahrenheit. That makes Madison, which sees an average of 18 days below zero
each year, a tough proving ground. Riders like Mertzig, who experiences severe
migraines and avoids driving, need the buses to run no matter what.
This time, they’ve done just that.
Metro Transit, which provides about 9.1 million rides annually, installed
overhead chargers on key routes, allowing buses to quickly top off at several
stops. Improved battery capacity also lets them go further between plug-ins.
The real test came January 23, when the temperature dropped to -4°F, shutting
down the University of Wisconsin-Madison — but the buses kept running."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
