Rudolf Diesel has a lot to answer for. The compression engine he invented has become the great workhorse of heavy duty vehicles like the buses, taxis and vans which fill our streets. But the nasty side effect of diesel fuel is fine particulate exhaust emissions that are creating a major health crisis. Tiny particles get deep into the lungs, causing thousands of premature deaths and a big increase in ill health.
The biggest culprit in central London, where the health problems are most acute? Yes, buses, taxis and commercial vans – all run, regulated or approved by the Mayor of London.
And the single most effective solution? To switch to electricity as a fuel source and cut London’s appalling air pollution, dramatically reduce premature deaths and ill health, and – due to greater energy efficiency – help meet our climate change targets too.
That’s why today I am launching the Big Switch at City Hall with Caroline Pidgeon AM and the energy and climate change secretary, Chris Huhne MP. This ambitious programme will convert high mileage buses, taxis and light goods vehicles to electric power by 2020.
With electric vehicles emitting no tail pipe exhaust pollution, turning London’s buses, taxis and commercial LGV fleets electric will reduce the air pollution suffered by Londoners by an estimated 25% – and even more in central London, with a 65% cut in dangerous nitrogen dioxide emissions in Oxford Street.
Wider benefits include a reduction in CO2 emissions of over 300,000 tonnes, far quieter streets and cheaper running costs, helping make public transport more affordable.
Can it be done?
At the heart of our plan is the simple fact that electricity is about one fifth the cost per mile compared to conventional fuels. The cost of battery technology is coming down rapidly, as production increases. Based on typical mileage, we calculate:
- Over three years a taxi driver will be £8,000 better off.
- Fuel savings for buses give a payback time of eight years.
- An LGV operator will be £3,000 better off over three years in running costs.
The hardest part is converting the 8,500 strong bus fleet. Our research shows Transport for London can be saving bus fuel costs of nearly £150m a year by 2020. Even with a big investment in charging points, our whole scheme goes cash positive in 2023.
The sad fact is the Mayor is not showing ambition, preferring short-term hybrid solutions and vanity projects. London is falling far behind best practice around the world. Seoul has plans for half its public transport vehicles to be electric by 2020. In the UK, Durham already has fully electric buses on their roads; in London not a single one.
It is time London took the lead to promote technology that makes long term sense. Reduced air pollution, quieter streets, help for climate change and more affordable public transport – surely that’s an opportunity worth seizing.
And with big savings on running costs and new electric taxis coming onto the market, even the famed London cabbie can be persuaded to switch support from Rudolf Diesel to the Liberal Democrats.
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12 Comments
Mike – would you like to see this article or an expanded version of it in Challenge? Let me know if you do, or write to Christian Vassey (editor) at challenge at greenlibdems dot org dot uk
The anticipated reduction in bad air health risk to Londoners by 25% from the introduction of Electric Buses is long overdue especially as they already run in Durham. All categories of public transport users in the capital, stand to benefit most, from electric buses, including the vulnerable elderly,disabled,children,asthmatics and all those travellers with bronchical health conditions.
I think you’ll find it is Edward Lehwess, a serial con-artist from the early 20th Century, who is equally responsible for the fact that London (and indeed most of the British Empire) do not use electric buses today…..! http://timjo.wordpress.com/2007/09/08/the-1907-electric-bus-scam/
Mike Tuffrey: “At the heart of our plan is the simple fact that electricity is about one fifth the cost per mile compared to conventional fuels.”
That is a very narrow measure of efficiency. Electricity is cheap because we tax it less than petrol or diesel.
The thermodynamic efficiency of a diesel engine is roughly 35%, less for a bus or taxi in traffic. An electric power station using hydrocarbons will deliver much greater thermodynamic efficiency, especially if it is part of a combined heat power scheme. There are other ways to generate electricity, of course, and they need to be creating power during the day when people want to do other things. And then there needs to be an electricity distribution system — places where buses and taxis can have their batteries swapped out or rapidly recharged. These distribution points have to be where long journeys end, at a big bus depot.
I am not entirely dismissive of this idea, but I think that delivery is very complicated and that Mike’s economics are misleading.
If “Over three years a taxi driver will be £8,000 better off.” is true, why aren’t cabbies just doing it anyway?
Tim 2, first off – cabbies can’t because there isn’t an electric taxi that meets the current conditions of service rules. If the turning circle was relaxed, the capital costs excluding batteries are about the same. Fuel savings would then pay for the battery cost and more.
Charlieman, you are right about taxation, though that only accounts for part of the difference and isn’t going to change any time soon. Chris Huhne was questioned about that this afternoon. Right too about the thermodynamic efficiencies, which lead to the fundamental economic differential. The charging network is the key and we’ve factored in the costs. What we’ve not factored into the economics is the massive health improvements
Tim 1, thanks for the history. You learn a new thing every day!
Mike
Why does the turning circle need to be relaxed to allow an electric vehicle? Please explain.
Thanks for the very true article, Mike. I wondered what your view was on the National Planning Policy Framework, out for consultation yesterday, which states that ‘sustainable develiopment’ means granting planning applications quickly. I funny definiton of the word if ever i saw one. This will mean that planning committees will have to say ‘yes’ to applications that are bad for the enviornment regardless of local discretion. Will you be opposing this?
It’s not Rudolf Diesel’s fault. He designed his engine to run on peanut oil. The oil industry later developed the synthetic petroleum derivative.
‘The sad fact is the Mayor is not showing ambition, preferring short-term hybrid solutions and vanity projects’
Well, I’m glad I stumbled across this article.
A more perfect combination of technical ignorance and petty politics I could not have imagined.
The new bus for London is electric – it is driven by electric motors. True, it is powered by a diesel generator (which is not connected to wheels), but that is the only way to provide a full-efficient, low-pollution, bus that can run for most of day.
I was at the launch of the new BMW electric car in Frankfurt today and company bosses say that electric ‘range-extender’ technology – as used by the New Bus for London – is the future for electric propulsion.
I have a Nissan Leaf electric car and it takes over 8 hours to recharge? Fancy trying that with a bus? Moreover, a bus could not physically accommodate a battery pack big enough to power it for more than a few hours per day.
The New bus for London is a world-leader and will win Boris the next election – it is that good. I was involved in kicking the project off and have travelled – briefly – on the first prototype.
Mind you, you are right about the curse of diesel, especially in heavy vehicles. Berlin has banned all diesel vehicles registered before Jan 2006 from the city centre. And the mayor of Barcelona has banned the purchase of diesel buses and taxis.
The answer is run today’s cabs on gas – a very clean burning fuel as your experience of cooking in confined spaces has taught you – which is what Tokyo’s and Hong Kong’s cabs run on. Manganese Bronze builds a petrol-powered cab for overseas markets which can be very easily converted to run on gas. London just needs to make sure that there’s a network of gas pumps in Greater London.
So with the bus issue solved, it’s time to fix the taxi problem. I’m luckily enough to travel the world and can assure you that London’s cabs are the most expensive and most polluting in the world.
Despite what J H Holloway says it is actually quite reasonable to charge a bus over night – or even during the day. In many respects the practicalities of charging a bus are far simpler than for a private car due to a regular pattern of travel etc.
A hybrid bus is not fully electric – they are still polluting, as they have a diesel engine. The bus issue has not been “solved” as suggested and I further suggest it is J H Holloway who is actually guilty of petty politics.
For a bit of information about how fully electric buses are being taken up around the world I hope these links are useful.
http://news.dorsetforyou.com/2011/04/green-grant-for-groundbreaking-new-electric-buses/
http://www.busandcoach.com/newspage.aspx?id=4454&categoryid=0
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23774636-electric-bus-takes-you-to-store-and-home-again.do
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Electric-buses-way/story-12181289-detail/story.html
http://www1.aston.ac.uk/about/news/releases/2010/august/aston-reviews-uks-first-electric-bus-trials/
http://www.solarfeeds.com/ecofriend/16881-worlds-largest-electric-bus-fleet-comes-to-china
http://www.slideshare.net/ResearchIndia/super-capacitor-buses-in-shanghai-5156990
http://www.enghunan.gov.cn/wwwHome/201101/t20110126_310810.htm
http://www.just-auto.com/news/byd-signs-agreement-to-supply-electric-buses_id111970.aspx
http://analysis.evupdate.com/industry-insight/united-states-e-buses-ease-transport-towards-electric
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-chicago/cta-to-get-new-electric-buses
http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/20110615/gm-pours-cash-into-electric-buses.htm
http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//RTV/2011/01/04/RTV18411/
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.civitas-
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2011-03/11/content_12155327.htm
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/04/26/mb-electric-bus-manitoba.html
http://www.eobus.com/news/689.htm
http://www.caprice-project.info/spip.php?article53
http://news.opodo.co.uk/NewsDetails/2008-03-03/Solar-powered_electric_bus_launched_in_Australia
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20110429-333670/New-company-to-field-electric-buses-in-Makati
http://www.autocarsreview.com/abu-dhabi-orders-first-zero-emission-electric-buses.html
I’m just wondering why the only well proven 100% electric bus option, the trolleybus, is not considered for the Big Switch, especially as the Lib Dems have previously thought well of it (http://glalibdems.org.uk/en/article/2004/016877/summary-of-london-assembly-liberal-democrat-group-position-on-the-west-london-tram-link) and because battery buses do not work at the carrying capacities needed for London Buses. Without radically (and unlikely) battery chemistry breakthroughs at remotely practical economic costs, battery buses can and will only carry small numbers for short periods. On the other hand, there are over 40k trolleybuses operating world wide, including in the capitals of Russia, Ukraine, China, Italy, New Zealand, Switzerland and Greece. With a better performance than diesel buses and 100% zero emissions when powered renewably (such as in Vancouver and Salzburg) trolleybuses are clean, quiet and entirely practical. Have a look at http://www.tbus.org.uk.