On 23 Apr 2013 at 17:53, Tom Keenan wrote: > They may be able to work out a system where they are assigned a space > in the taxi line and are able to hold that spot while they charge in > some nearby location.
Sure, they may, but why should they care? I'm serious. Look, these guys are trying to earn a living doing a job that - being blunt - already pays crap. Every minute they're not carrying a fare, they're losing money. Every fare they have to pass up, because they can't go as far as the fare wants to go, is another loss. You have to understand that to guys who drive for a living, their car or truck is a TOOL. They don't know or care how much it pollutes. They just want to get their jobs done, get paid, and go home to enjoy what little free time they have. Give them an inferior tool, and their ability to earn their living will be hampered. That living already isn't too fantastic. They will not be happy. To a professional driver, a taxicab that can't do more than 60 miles on a "tank" (and it will be that or less, the way these guys drive) is an inferior tool. I've seen reports on 1970s- and 1980s-era pilot EV projects that failed for a simple reason - the EVs infuriated their drivers. The EVs were slow and ungainly to handle or drive. They went flat or repeatedly broke down in the middle of work shifts, leaving the drivers stranded on the road. They were uncomfortable, rode badly, had feeble heaters and weak or no aircon. In some way, or in many ways, these EVs were clearly inferior AS TOOLS TO EARN A LIVING to the ICEVs the drivers had been using before. They hated them. You know what happened? The drivers sabotaged the EVs. They "forgot" to charge them. They drove them roughly, mercilessly, until the battery was dead flat, then called in for help. The maintenance crews were often complicit. In one case I read of, shop workers were witnessed watering flooded batteries by removing the caps and spraying them with a garden hose. The programs failed, and the drivers got their old vehicles back. And they were happy again. Now, I'm not saying that the Leaf is uncomfortable or rides badly or has poor HVAC or is apt to break down excessively. But it doesn't have enough range for the mission required of it. Barring some aggressive intervention by Nissan (Double battery? Swappable battery? Two Leaves for the price of one?), it will fail. There are good ways to promote the use of EVs. Choosing one that isn't equal to the job required of it, and forcing someone to use it, isn't one of them. IMO, the best thing you can say for this project is that, in a few years, a batch of used EVs should be available to us for very reasonable prices. David Roden EVDL Administrator http://www.evdl.org/ _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
