I know it's kind of counterproductive but the bus should be equipped with a small diesel engine powered energy station for an emergency. I really think a hybrid vehicle of that size would make much more sense.
Wow. The state of the chargers is surprising. The biggest reason I didn’t consider an EV when I bought a new car this summer was the fact that I take several road trips and I didn’t want to deal with charging on the road. Granted a car wouldn’t have the same challenges as a bus but broken chargers would be just as big of an issue. For buses and HD trucks, I would think, unless high current chargers become more available, they will need two charge sockets so you can recharge faster. Interesting video.
my one thought on these fully electric busses is that seeing as the roof isn't glass, it should at the absolute minimum be covered in solar panels to recharge the batteries as you go. I mean the technology is more or less there, make that bus as self sustaining as possible.
@@dalewilliams8131 Thanks, I like to think so, the way I look at it is, I watch a lot of vanilfers, and frankly they know what's up as far as making a vehicle self sustaining, there are so many ways and tech to modify a bus like this to make it much more self sustaining. Like the tech is there to make it to where essentially the vehicle can recharge from the sun, which if it's functioning as a tour type bus, that's practical for a lot of reasons, like what if you want to stop at a scenic spot but theres no charging spot for the bus? well with the roof covered in solar panels, park in a sunny spot and if you spend enough time at the scenic spot you could be up to a way higher charge by the time the group is ready to leave.
That battery on the bus is 600kwh. A solar panel generates 15w/sq. ft. maximum. If you figure a bus is 40'x8' that translates to 4,800w capacity. If you charge at 24v, you will need 1,000+ hours to charge the battery. Those van lifers use solar to charge batteries to run small appliances, the solar array isn't practical to charge the traction battery. While its a nice thought, it won't work. This actually hurts the sustainability cause by suggesting an implausible solution. Long-distance commercial vehicles must be hybrid until they solve the battery problem. Change for transportaion will come incrementally.
J Wang dude you were in my hometown San Jose!!!! I just saw the exits coming up so I was like I might of ran into you on the freeway because I drive a minivan or sometimes the ford transit to get patients around the area. I watched your video and I was like that’s rare to find someone like you around the Bay Area. Btw WELCOME TO THE SOUTH BAY AREA
I saw most of the unedited versions shortly after James posted these. But it nice to watch these again since you know he included the highlights and best of all the funny stuff.
Wow! So glad you shared this video. It highlights the pitfalls of this technology for bus/truck travel right now. Any business considering incorporating one of these into their fleet for OTR travel best take heed. The prolonged stops for "refueling" will push up your labor costs, and slow down delivery times. I like the idea of this technology, but it is in its infancy, and in a profit-driven model, it is not ready for prime time.
@@JWangvlogs 😂😂😂 I know that feeling. Definitely saw that you tried to cover the edge of the lane to make it work lol. Great driving, great video as always.
One thing that perplexes me is, this is LITERALLY a million dollar coach equipped the most modern, state-of-the-art EV technology. But yet, they still chose to equip the coach with old-style incandescent front turn signal lamps instead of LED, like the rest of the vehicle. Strange.
Any of the EV owners that would get upset at the EBus are truly not committed to zero emission. 😂 Electric bus is nothing but Big toys for people who actually do t need to get somewhere, and don’t mind paying to not travel…
EV (meaning electric drive) is hugely popular in railroads and ships. But they charge to battery / electric motor with a generator. So its really a diesel EV, but about 50% better fuel economy and you can charge up the battery pack using solar or wind or nuclear etc... Also just the roof with panels can charge up a few miles per day. But to be only battery EV versus diesel EV?
Really it just shows that you need your own dedicated charging points. (and it would be much cheaper that way too) This was an "experiment" using commercial stations.
My name is sidnei, I'm from Brazil and I've been working with buses for 15 years and I have a dream of going to work there or in Canada but it takes a long time
Seems like this technology would be great for transit buses maybe with strategically placed trolley wires along the route and fast chargers at terminals but not for long distance
This is what the green America wants. Imagine if you were a truck driver and you had to charge your truck but yet you’re using Electronic Log books and you only had another 4 hours of legal drive time allowed before you had to shut down for the day and your still 120 miles from your Walmart delivery. Guess Walmart won’t be getting their delivery on time so they can send out (what would’ve been ) my 0100 delivery of 45,000 pounds of Walmart product that they would’ve put onto their trucks to take to their local Walmart stores. Oh well. Maybe I’ll get there the next day. Oh….and that’s just ONE truck. Can’t imagine what will happen when it turns into even 50% of the trucks being electric. WHO knows when stuff would get delivered. Nothing in America will ever be on time anymore. Dang..I can’t wait!! 👍🏾
The electric OTR trucks have a longer range than this bus -- it is almost like they were designed to run out of battery about the same time the driver can't legally drive anymore. Exactly like that. Park at your Walmart Depot and plug your truck in and take your mandatory time sleeping. Then its fully charged when you wake up. The REAL issue is when they Level 3 you out of a job. Give it 20 years and you won't have to worry about it - and the "tractors" will be much smaller and lighter because they don't need apartments for the "wetware." This specific bus was designed for intracity, not OTR. The concept being you can have a bus on a city-owned charging point as a read swap - so drivers just change to fully charged equipment as theirs is depleted.
As these busses become more popular. They will need to have specific charging stations to accommodate them. It’s a hassle for the bus drivers to position the bus. And they have to block off other charging stations. They have to because they have to use a charging station made for a car. They make these electric vehicles. But don’t think things through about having to recharge them.
Actually that first location he could have parked on the opposite side of the charger -- all those spaces were empty. But the bus REALLY should have an extension cable so that you can run it to the charger and not be locked into backing all the way in.
Great questions. So the drive train is definitely noticeable on the inside towards the rear of the coach. There is definitely a soft mechanical whine not that different from that of a diesel bus, but much more softer. The only difference is I keep expecting to hear a down kick as a diesel would make during a shift but that never occurs since its a electric motor and there are no gears. On the outside of the coach there is barely any sound. Just a soft electrical hum that stays constant regardless of whether the bus is moving or stationary. There are definitely very noticeable fan sounds coming from the rear engine compartment because there are lots of fans back there. Very unique experience.
@@JWangvlogs My ‘23 NISSAN ALTIMA has a CV type transmission. There is usually no so called shift feel unless I really push it. Nice a smooth but some people are put off by that. I would imagine the first time you drive an EV it may take some getting used to having instant torque without going thru a transmission. Perhaps I should go test drive one huh?
So many negative comments lmao. wait until they realize that this technology is still in it's infancy. If a much heavier EV than this like the Tesla semi can get 500 miles fully loaded with faster charge times, imagine what the future holds for EV RVS.
@@bodybuilderslave7125 as in, it constantly averages 500 miles a charge with average driving, more if extra care is taken for efficiency, which is something that many truck drivers do
This long-distance bus does not seem very well thought of. It seems like you are averaging less than 2-3 hours of driving, followed by 2+ hours of charging with
ABC really should have tried this themselves first so they could see what a disaster this idea was. Whoever at ABC thought it was a good idea to put a journalist in a woefully unprepared vehicle should be fired. This whole series just confirmed to me that we are not even vaguely close to being ready for electric busses. I love how everyone is excited about the trip. Little did they know the hell they were in for on this godforsaken trip. I'd love to hear your honest opinion of what this trip put you and your family through.
EV coaches in their infatcy much the EV cars 8-10 years ago. Range anxiety is a thing. The infrastructure for large vehicle charging will come and "fill" the need. In local transit these coaches will eliminate the fumes and health hazards of coaches idling. Lower maintenance costs will drove the fleet to convert to electric. Many large cities (San Francisco, Key System, Los Angeles big red car, Philadelphia, PCC, New York) have/had electric trolley fleets but were dismantled and are now going back to electric.
it's great to see you diversifying into EV buses. for future reference -0-80% will charge in the same time as 80-100% and use the same amount of energy. think of charging a battery like filling a pressurised gas/ propane tank. It's harder to fill it when it's already full because your having to presurise
Exactly what any (non-tesla) EV driver could tell ya... finding a place to charge -- that has _actual working_ equipment -- is always a challenge. Even more so for something as massive as a bus. I assume the bus has a level 1/2 onboard charger, so even the trickle of 6k (L2) at the hotel would've been worth it. (in my experience, hotel chargers are the worst of them all.) (The "blocked" tesla spots in the beginning _weren't_ blocked. Those drivers were morons. When you left, those spots were full.)
I'm in the UK the cost and your trip to Florida its not cheap count up the hours/ cost to charge your bus across the country then we can see if you show the cost/time
If we would go to 100% nuclear for generating electricity, we would be next to 0 emissions. But they very mention of nuclear causes the same people who are obsessed with this EV push to run to the basement and scream.
@@crabbymilton390 Yet, no one talks about nuclear waste of nuclear plants do they. We have this thing in the universe called the Sun that gives free energy also including Wind energy.
@@jsmurd Wind and solar only have mild impact. Plus both sources are temperamental. Nuclear is like fossil fuel and this is very stable. As far as nuclear waste is concerned, get old Elon to put a bunch of it on one of his unmanned rockets and blast it towards the sun. That should take care of it.
With all the battery power on the bus, I wonder if there is any danger of electromagnetic waves / energy that would have an adverse affect on people? I have a green electric box near my house that makes a constant humming sound. And there are warning signs posted on the box.
They are as happy as clams about the fact that it’s an EV as opposed to a scary diesel. But at some point, they’ll come after the BEV’s and find something to kick about.
So roughly… Charge for 2 hours, drive 2 hours for a max of what? 100-120 mi? *YUP! Most definitively the future (for stagecoach tech)…* ECO lovers! REALLY???
Electric is not practical. If all motor vehicles were electric we'd need tens of thousands of public chargers which require parking lot space, not to mention thousands of new service areas, higher cost of road maintenence due to electric vehicle weight, and there is the power plant problem. You'd need a dozen nuclear power plants in every state at least.
Not much of an advertisement for elec. busses and even cars. Reliability across the board seems to be awfully iffy!! Hate to go down to zero on one of those!!! Interesting tho.
What the hell? And we are going to be driving these things?? Two to six hours for a charge?? Versus 10 minutes with a diesel Vanhool. Ummmm, I world LOVE to see this done on a park tour with 55 to 88 pax. They are great for local. I have an itinerary. From LA to BFD I don't have to stop at all with my regular diesel. This is sooooo DUMB.
Yes they would be fine for a local or regional day trip less than a total of 200 miles. But you would also have to factor in areas of extreme cold or heat with the AC or heater going full blast. That’s why they conducted that experiment. Then there’s no excuse for these operators of these charging stations to be run by incompetent people. Putting people on hold when they are having trouble. The coach operators will likely have a big old diesel generator to charge these things at the garage before the trips then overnight when they return.
What a Sh*t Show, no way to use this cross country, will never be a practical option, Shuttle Service saying close the the Charge Stations, not in this Generation....
Mapping out a trip, around charging locations, I can wait to write a check.
I know it's kind of counterproductive but the bus should be equipped with a small diesel engine powered energy station for an emergency. I really think a hybrid vehicle of that size would make much more sense.
Nice
Wow. The state of the chargers is surprising. The biggest reason I didn’t consider an EV when I bought a new car this summer was the fact that I take several road trips and I didn’t want to deal with charging on the road. Granted a car wouldn’t have the same challenges as a bus but broken chargers would be just as big of an issue. For buses and HD trucks, I would think, unless high current chargers become more available, they will need two charge sockets so you can recharge faster. Interesting video.
my one thought on these fully electric busses is that seeing as the roof isn't glass, it should at the absolute minimum be covered in solar panels to recharge the batteries as you go. I mean the technology is more or less there, make that bus as self sustaining as possible.
Thats a great idea.
@@dalewilliams8131 Thanks, I like to think so, the way I look at it is, I watch a lot of vanilfers, and frankly they know what's up as far as making a vehicle self sustaining, there are so many ways and tech to modify a bus like this to make it much more self sustaining. Like the tech is there to make it to where essentially the vehicle can recharge from the sun, which if it's functioning as a tour type bus, that's practical for a lot of reasons, like what if you want to stop at a scenic spot but theres no charging spot for the bus? well with the roof covered in solar panels, park in a sunny spot and if you spend enough time at the scenic spot you could be up to a way higher charge by the time the group is ready to leave.
That battery on the bus is 600kwh. A solar panel generates 15w/sq. ft. maximum. If you figure a bus is 40'x8' that translates to 4,800w capacity. If you charge at 24v, you will need 1,000+ hours to charge the battery. Those van lifers use solar to charge batteries to run small appliances, the solar array isn't practical to charge the traction battery. While its a nice thought, it won't work. This actually hurts the sustainability cause by suggesting an implausible solution.
Long-distance commercial vehicles must be hybrid until they solve the battery problem. Change for transportaion will come incrementally.
J Wang dude you were in my hometown San Jose!!!! I just saw the exits coming up so I was like I might of ran into you on the freeway because I drive a minivan or sometimes the ford transit to get patients around the area. I watched your video and I was like that’s rare to find someone like you around the Bay Area. Btw WELCOME TO THE SOUTH BAY AREA
Hahaha hell yeah buddy....In N Out Burger is awesome!!! I hope you and everyone else enjoyed it!!!
I saw most of the unedited versions shortly after James posted these. But it nice to watch these again since you know he included the highlights and best of all the funny stuff.
Really enjoy your selection of music.
Thank you. Appreciate the kind words 😊
Great video by the way, James.
Wow! So glad you shared this video. It highlights the pitfalls of this technology for bus/truck travel right now. Any business considering incorporating one of these into their fleet for OTR travel best take heed. The prolonged stops for "refueling" will push up your labor costs, and slow down delivery times. I like the idea of this technology, but it is in its infancy, and in a profit-driven model, it is not ready for prime time.
11:07 : You’d think they would see that big A bus coming lmao.
LOL I got pinned between a truck and a merging car there. LOL glad the car decided to slow down
@@JWangvlogs 😂😂😂 I know that feeling. Definitely saw that you tried to cover the edge of the lane to make it work lol. Great driving, great video as always.
Well, people are…I’m not going to say it.
I like to talk you about the travels in your bus. Thank you for your exiting video.
One thing that perplexes me is, this is LITERALLY a million dollar coach equipped the most modern, state-of-the-art EV technology. But yet, they still chose to equip the coach with old-style incandescent front turn signal lamps instead of LED, like the rest of the vehicle.
Strange.
The trip and all that came with it shows that as of right now, EV buses are not practical for OTR charter work. Local or shuttle, maybe yes.
Any of the EV owners that would get upset at the EBus are truly not committed to zero emission.
😂 Electric bus is nothing but Big toys for people who actually do t need to get somewhere, and don’t mind paying to not travel…
300 miles in 13 hours?!??!? How can a company make any money running that?
EV (meaning electric drive) is hugely popular in railroads and ships. But they charge to battery / electric motor with a generator.
So its really a diesel EV, but about 50% better fuel economy and you can charge up the battery pack using solar or wind or nuclear etc...
Also just the roof with panels can charge up a few miles per day.
But to be only battery EV versus diesel EV?
@@travisminneapolisyea…hybrid power! Not full electric!
Really it just shows that you need your own dedicated charging points. (and it would be much cheaper that way too)
This was an "experiment" using commercial stations.
Awesome
My name is sidnei, I'm from Brazil and I've been working with buses for 15 years and I have a dream of going to work there or in Canada but it takes a long time
You forgot the Generator 😂😂😂
Nice!!
Seems like this technology would be great for transit buses maybe with strategically placed trolley wires along the route and fast chargers at terminals but not for long distance
This is what the green America wants. Imagine if you were a truck driver and you had to charge your truck but yet you’re using Electronic Log books and you only had another 4 hours of legal drive time allowed before you had to shut down for the day and your still 120 miles from your Walmart delivery. Guess Walmart won’t be getting their delivery on time so they can send out (what would’ve been ) my 0100 delivery of 45,000 pounds of Walmart product that they would’ve put onto their trucks to take to their local Walmart stores. Oh well. Maybe I’ll get there the next day. Oh….and that’s just ONE truck. Can’t imagine what will happen when it turns into even 50% of the trucks being electric. WHO knows when stuff would get delivered. Nothing in America will ever be on time anymore. Dang..I can’t wait!! 👍🏾
The electric OTR trucks have a longer range than this bus -- it is almost like they were designed to run out of battery about the same time the driver can't legally drive anymore. Exactly like that. Park at your Walmart Depot and plug your truck in and take your mandatory time sleeping. Then its fully charged when you wake up.
The REAL issue is when they Level 3 you out of a job. Give it 20 years and you won't have to worry about it - and the "tractors" will be much smaller and lighter because they don't need apartments for the "wetware."
This specific bus was designed for intracity, not OTR. The concept being you can have a bus on a city-owned charging point as a read swap - so drivers just change to fully charged equipment as theirs is depleted.
As these busses become more popular. They will need to have specific charging stations to accommodate them.
It’s a hassle for the bus drivers to position the bus. And they have to block off other charging stations. They have to because they have to use a charging station made for a car.
They make these electric vehicles. But don’t think things through about having to recharge them.
Actually that first location he could have parked on the opposite side of the charger -- all those spaces were empty.
But the bus REALLY should have an extension cable so that you can run it to the charger and not be locked into backing all the way in.
I was like that intro area looks familiar and I was correct.
We have about 30 Electric New Flyers. We have to unplug them to get started and then plug them back in when we are down for the day.
You're at my old stomping grounds, at the Outlets in Gilroy.
How does the bus drive trane sound? Like in the back does the motor whine at all? And other than the back up alarm is there much sound to it outside?
Great questions. So the drive train is definitely noticeable on the inside towards the rear of the coach. There is definitely a soft mechanical whine not that different from that of a diesel bus, but much more softer. The only difference is I keep expecting to hear a down kick as a diesel would make during a shift but that never occurs since its a electric motor and there are no gears. On the outside of the coach there is barely any sound. Just a soft electrical hum that stays constant regardless of whether the bus is moving or stationary. There are definitely very noticeable fan sounds coming from the rear engine compartment because there are lots of fans back there. Very unique experience.
@@JWangvlogs My ‘23 NISSAN ALTIMA has a CV type transmission. There is usually no so called shift feel unless I really push it. Nice a smooth but some people are put off by that. I would imagine the first time you drive an EV it may take some getting used to having instant torque without going thru a transmission. Perhaps I should go test drive one huh?
🔥🔥🔥
So many negative comments lmao. wait until they realize that this technology is still in it's infancy. If a much heavier EV than this like the Tesla semi can get 500 miles fully loaded with faster charge times, imagine what the future holds for EV RVS.
IF?
@@bodybuilderslave7125 as in, it constantly averages 500 miles a charge with average driving, more if extra care is taken for efficiency, which is something that many truck drivers do
Great looking bus. The charging stations are worthless pieces of junk.
Agreed
wow that charges were expensive, can you imagine going from California to New York, New York
May not be a 2 hour stop, but you will have to stop every 2 hours.
Hey James, I don't know if you saw the news, it looks like Proterra was in financial trouble, filed for bankruptcy, and have been bought out by Volvo.
This long-distance bus does not seem very well thought of. It seems like you are averaging less than 2-3 hours of driving, followed by 2+ hours of charging with
@jwang Those charging stations accommodate cars, light duty trucks and suvs not coaches.
I noticed.
An adventure is always a good thing, but it shouldn’t be a routine thing.
ABC really should have tried this themselves first so they could see what a disaster this idea was. Whoever at ABC thought it was a good idea to put a journalist in a woefully unprepared vehicle should be fired. This whole series just confirmed to me that we are not even vaguely close to being ready for electric busses. I love how everyone is excited about the trip. Little did they know the hell they were in for on this godforsaken trip. I'd love to hear your honest opinion of what this trip put you and your family through.
This would be good for short distances trips , cheaper tickets
EV coaches in their infatcy much the EV cars 8-10 years ago. Range anxiety is a thing. The infrastructure for large vehicle charging will come and "fill" the need. In local transit these coaches will eliminate the fumes and health hazards of coaches idling. Lower maintenance costs will drove the fleet to convert to electric. Many large cities (San Francisco, Key System, Los Angeles big red car, Philadelphia, PCC, New York) have/had electric trolley fleets but were dismantled and are now going back to electric.
When you get out this way I want to meet you
What's the range?
it's great to see you diversifying into EV buses.
for future reference -0-80% will charge in the same time as 80-100% and use the same amount of energy. think of charging a battery like filling a pressurised gas/ propane tank. It's harder to fill it when it's already full because your having to presurise
Exactly what any (non-tesla) EV driver could tell ya... finding a place to charge -- that has _actual working_ equipment -- is always a challenge. Even more so for something as massive as a bus. I assume the bus has a level 1/2 onboard charger, so even the trickle of 6k (L2) at the hotel would've been worth it. (in my experience, hotel chargers are the worst of them all.)
(The "blocked" tesla spots in the beginning _weren't_ blocked. Those drivers were morons. When you left, those spots were full.)
Ok folks. We will be here for ahhhhh while like four hours and I have to turn off the AC.
I'm in the UK the cost and your trip to Florida its not cheap count up the hours/ cost to charge your bus across the country then we can see if you show the cost/time
If the tesla's cant get in those spots, they should not be driving !!!!!
Hint to these hotels. Get rid of those stupid grass islands around the charging stations. They just hinder things.
Yes! Thank you! Agree totally
This would be an absolute nightmare with passengers and/or a multiple bus movement. Its a no for me.
So are they really making an all electric bus?
Zero emissions bus is like saying zero cost for healthcare in many European countries…it’s got to come from SOMEWHERE!
If we would go to 100% nuclear for generating electricity, we would be next to 0 emissions. But they very mention of nuclear causes the same people who are obsessed with this EV push to run to the basement and scream.
@@crabbymilton390 Yet, no one talks about nuclear waste of nuclear plants do they. We have this thing in the universe called the Sun that gives free energy also including Wind energy.
@@jsmurd Wind and solar only have mild impact. Plus both sources are temperamental. Nuclear is like fossil fuel and this is very stable. As far as nuclear waste is concerned, get old Elon to put a bunch of it on one of his unmanned rockets and blast it towards the sun. That should take care of it.
With all the battery power on the bus, I wonder if there is any danger of electromagnetic waves / energy that would have an adverse affect on people? I have a green electric box near my house that makes a constant humming sound. And there are warning signs posted on the box.
They are as happy as clams about the fact that it’s an EV as opposed to a scary diesel. But at some point, they’ll come after the BEV’s and find something to kick about.
EMI comes from A/C, not D/C.
@@johnp139 The chargers are A/C. But current is current.
@@stevepackard8542 The high powered ones are DC, and actually called DC fast chargers. The batteries are also DC.
You're coming to my neck of the woods, How long will you be in town?
Hey Elite Mustang. This trip was over a month ago. Im just now getting to edit all the footage.
I think the concept of electric vehicles is a very good one except I do not believe that the technology is ready for primetime just yet.
So roughly…
Charge for 2 hours, drive 2 hours for a max of what? 100-120 mi?
*YUP! Most definitively the future (for stagecoach tech)…*
ECO lovers! REALLY???
Am I having Data-vu, or something?
No this is the actual Vlog
Electric is not practical. If all motor vehicles were electric we'd need tens of thousands of public chargers which require parking lot space, not to mention thousands of new service areas, higher cost of road maintenence due to electric vehicle weight, and there is the power plant problem. You'd need a dozen nuclear power plants in every state at least.
Not much of an advertisement for elec. busses and even cars. Reliability across the board seems to be awfully iffy!! Hate to go down to zero on one of those!!! Interesting tho.
What the hell? And we are going to be driving these things?? Two to six hours for a charge?? Versus 10 minutes with a diesel Vanhool. Ummmm, I world LOVE to see this done on a park tour with 55 to 88 pax. They are great for local. I have an itinerary. From LA to BFD I don't have to stop at all with my regular diesel. This is sooooo DUMB.
Yes they would be fine for a local or regional day trip less than a total of 200 miles. But you would also have to factor in areas of extreme cold or heat with the AC or heater going full blast. That’s why they conducted that experiment. Then there’s no excuse for these operators of these charging stations to be run by incompetent people. Putting people on hold when they are having trouble. The coach operators will likely have a big old diesel generator to charge these things at the garage before the trips then overnight when they return.
No Vehicle can be 100% emission free due to all the emission that were made to create the vehicle.
the tesla chargers are perfectly usable it's just tesla drivers don't know how to drive
Imagine all slaves used to make the battery for this thing
I am not impressed.
What a Sh*t Show, no way to use this cross country, will never be a practical option, Shuttle Service saying close the the Charge Stations, not in this Generation....
yea I really didn't like this series. No good. Waste of time charging.