My personal opinion is that while the public is willing to accept overhead wires on separate, dedicated rights of way (I.e. trains), at least in the U.S. there's far less willingness to accept them on roadways owing to their aesthetic effect (way back when, trolleys in Manhattan had to use buried third rails rather than overhead wires for this reason). That's certainly the case in most urban areas (San Francisco and Seattle being the largest but not sole U.S. exceptions, as they still have large trolley bus fleets). We'll have to see whether providing overhead wires over single lanes on highways will prove acceptable, and it may just be a case of what people are used to.

Guy [I have lots of experience designing/selling off-grid AE systems, some using EVs but don't own one. Local trips are by foot, bike and/or rapid transit].

The 'best' is the enemy of 'good enough'.Copper shot, not Silver bullets.

. . . Milk & More is also the first UK company to operate the StreetScooter EV van, which is currently only used in Germany by Deutsche Post. (StreetScooter is owned by Deutsche Post DHL Group. . . .)

The StreetScooters have a 905 kg payload and an eight-meter cube box, enabling Milk & More to carry 860 pints of milk at a time, as well as an extensive range of locally sourced products from bacon and bread to cereals and juice. The new floats have a 40 kWh battery pack supporting a range of up to 75 miles. Economical to run, in the first month of operation, Milk & More has seen a 90% reduction on operational fuel costs, versus the outgoing diesel vehicles.

The StreetScooters are all left-hand drive, enabling milkmen and women to get in and out of the milk floats on the curbside. Milk & More is likely to add to the 200 StreetScooters it has already purchased as it seeks to further increase its fleet of electric milk floats later in the year.

Guy [I have lots of experience designing/selling off-grid AE systems, some using EVs but don't own one. Local trips are by foot, bike and/or rapid transit].

The 'best' is the enemy of 'good enough'.Copper shot, not Silver bullets.

Symbio has a great deal of experience with using hydrogen fuel cells as range extenders. Symbio currently has several hundred converted Renault Kangoo ZE Maxi light electric commercial vehicles equipped with a 22 kWh battery pack and 5 kW hydrogen fuel range extender with 2.08 kg H2 at 700 bar in service in Europe. (Earlier post.) In 2017, Symbio integrated a 15 kW (net) fuel cell range extender in a Nissan e-NV200 electric van, with plans to introduce the vehicle to the European taxi market.

ased on a 40 kW hydrogen fuel cell designed to fit into vans, heavy-duty vehicles, buses, as well as SUVs i.e. for taxi usage, H2Motiv L provides these vehicles with a number of advantages, Symbio says:

Hydrogen refueling in about 10 minutes;

Battery life that is three times greater compared to its equivalent, regardless of the season (or use of heating).

Low impact on the loading weight and volume due in particular to the compactness of the kit, which makes the vehicle similar to a classic combustion powered model.

Similar use to that of a conventional vehicle due to the power (40 kW). . . .

Guy [I have lots of experience designing/selling off-grid AE systems, some using EVs but don't own one. Local trips are by foot, bike and/or rapid transit].

The 'best' is the enemy of 'good enough'.Copper shot, not Silver bullets.

Freightliner Trucks premiered two fully electrified commercial vehicles—a Freightliner eCascadia heavy-duty truck and a Freightliner eM2 106 medium-duty truck—during the Daimler Trucks Capital Market and Technology Day in Portland. Freightliner plans to deliver an Electric Innovation Fleet of 30 vehicles to customers later this year for further testing under real-world operating conditions. . . .

The eCascadia has up to 730 peak horsepower. The batteries provide 550 kWh usable capacity, a range of up to 250 miles (402 km) and have the ability to charge up to 80% (providing a range of 200 miles) in about 90 minutes. The Class 8 tractor is designed for local and regional distribution and drayage.

The eM2 has up to 480 peak horsepower. The batteries provide 325 kWh of usable capacity, a range of up to 230 miles (370 km) and have the ability to charge up to 80% (providing a range of 184 miles) in about 60 minutes. The eM2 is Freightliner’s electrified solution for local distribution, pickup and delivery, food and beverage delivery, and last-mile logistics applications. The announcement comes as Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) explores proprietary solutions to meet the most promising target applications for electrified commercial vehicles, with the goal of starting production in 2021.

The Freightliner eCascadia with 80,000 lb. gross combined weight rating (GCWR) and eM2 with 26,000 lb. GCWR are part of Daimler Trucks’ global electrified truck initiative. The Mercedes-Benz eActros, with a range up to 124 miles and a 55,000 lb. GCWR, is now entering testing for distribution applications with customers in Europe, while the E-FUSO Vision One, a Class 8 concept truck in Japan with a range of 220 miles and a 51,000 lb. GCWR, gives an outlook on the electrification of the Fuso portfolio. The FUSO eCanter, a light-duty truck, is already available in series model production as a fully electric truck from Daimler Trucks. . . .

Solaris has sold articulated Trollino 18 trolleybuses to Milan. Signed on 21 May, the framework contract stipulates the supply of 80 vehicles in total. The first of these will be delivered mid-2019. Public transport operator ATM has been offered the option to order another 50 vehicles. The contract value amounts to €61,5 million.

The Milanese Trollino 18 will be fitted with two traction motors with a power of 160 kW each. 45 kWh batteries allow the trolleybuses to continue driving for up to 15 km even when they are detached from the traction line. They will ensure e.g. further travel in case of a power supply failure or on route stretches devoid of power lines (for instance in the historical parts of the city). The trolleybuses can carry up to 135 passengers, including 31 sitting on seats.

An efficient air conditioning system provides comfort to all passengers. One of the safety standard improvements is the permanent monitoring of the insulation, from the bodyframe, of components powered by means of high-voltage cables.

Should any irregularities be detected, the system will automatically lower the pantograph. The operator from Milan has commissioned a highly advanced monitoring system. It will include nine cameras and a rear-view camera, a 10" screen on the central console and a data logger. Moreover, the vehicles will be equipped with a passenger counting system. . . .

This sort of hybrid system has been used in the past, with streetcars. Depending on the circumstances, the battery was there either because 1. traffic was too thin in suburbs to justify overhead wires, or 2. because those wires were prohibited in urban areas for aesthetic/safety reasons but allowed in suburbs. There were also cases where streetcars employed both overhead wire/trolley as well as buried third rail, as in case #2.

Guy [I have lots of experience designing/selling off-grid AE systems, some using EVs but don't own one. Local trips are by foot, bike and/or rapid transit].

The 'best' is the enemy of 'good enough'.Copper shot, not Silver bullets.

France-based global energy and services group ENGIE has launched a fleet of 50 hydrogen-powered Renault Kangoo Z.E. utility vehicles (earlier post), recently made available for long-term rental through Alphabet, a leader in mobility solutions for companies, and inaugurated the first alternative multi-fuel station in France to fuel them. . . .

This station, located in the heart of the International Market of Rungis, has a provisional refueling capacity of 20 kg/day in hydrogen but should increase rapidly to 80 kg/day. This scale corresponds to the immediate needs of current vehicles in the south of Paris. (Marché International de Rungis is the principal market of Paris, mainly for food and horticultural products, located in the commune of Rungis, in the southern suburbs. It is the largest wholesale food market in the world.)

The installation will produce renewable hydrogen on site with an electrolyzer powered solely by renewable energy. The hydrogen station is designed, manufactured and integrated by McPhy. The whole project has been given financial support from the European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU).

With a stream of more than 25,000 vehicles per day, the Rungis Market, which offers free motorway toll to all clean vehicles that use the station for refueling, is a strategic location for the development of green mobility for freight transport in Ile-de-France. . . .

Note that as with previous Kangoo Z.E.'s, the fuel cell stacks are used as range-extenders to battery packs, i.e. these are FCPHEVs.

Also GCC:

Stena Line introducing battery-electric operation to ferry; three stages up to 50 all-electric nautical miles

. . . Stena recently signed with Callenberg Technology Group for 1 MWh of batteries which will be installed on Stena Jutlandica which operates between Gothenburg and Frederikshavn.

Stena envisions three phases to the project. In step one, due this summer, the 1 MWh, 3,000 kW battery pack, which will be located on the weather deck, will be used for bow thrusters and maneuvering when berthing in port. In step two, a 20 MWh battery pack will be connected to the propellers; Stena Jutlandica will be able to be operated on electricity within around 10 nautical miles, equal to the distance between Göteborg and Vinga Lighthouse.

In step three, the battery capacity will be further expanded to 50 MWh, enabling about 50 nautical miles of all-electric range—corresponding to the distance between Gothenburg and Frederikshavn.

The objective of accomplishing this in several steps is to test and gather knowledge about electrical operation along the way. If the project is successful, battery operation may also be applicable to other vessels in the Stena Line fleet. . . .

Guy [I have lots of experience designing/selling off-grid AE systems, some using EVs but don't own one. Local trips are by foot, bike and/or rapid transit].

The 'best' is the enemy of 'good enough'.Copper shot, not Silver bullets.

The inhalation of diesel vehicle exhaust gases is a significant health risk for mine workers. Often lung and respiratory diseases are the result of many years of underground activity. To reduce the risks, mining and tunneling vehicle specialist Emsbürener Hermann Paus Maschinenfabrik GmbH has developed electric and hybrid mining vehicles in partnership with Danfoss Mobile Electrification. Customer deliveries are to begin soon.

In Canada, the use of diesel vehicles in first mines has already been banned. With the MinCa 5.1, the family-owned company Paus is now offering for the first time a universal vehicle for mining as a hybrid or electric variant, which corresponds to the trend towards locally emission-free underground mining. With its compact dimensions and a payload of 1.2 tons, it is particularly suitable for passenger and material transport in mines.

The electric drive train system EDITRON is supplied by Danfoss Mobile Electrification for the all-wheel-drive off-highway vehicle MinCa 5.1 in two variants:

A pure electric drive with 50 kW electric motor and a 50 kWh battery system for 3-4 hours of work.

A hybrid drive with 50 kW electric motor, a range extender and 20 kWh battery system for 12 hours of work.

In addition to the health protection of mine workers, customers based in, for example, North and South America, Russia or Australia benefit from up to 50% lower fuel costs for construction site work. In addition, the abandonment of diesel vehicles generally improves air quality, so the cost of ventilation systems can also be minimized. . . .

Guy [I have lots of experience designing/selling off-grid AE systems, some using EVs but don't own one. Local trips are by foot, bike and/or rapid transit].

The 'best' is the enemy of 'good enough'.Copper shot, not Silver bullets.

UPS plans to build an additional five compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations and add more than 700 new CNG vehicles including 400 semi-tractors and 330 terminal trucks. This $130-million dollar investment in CNG capacity for 2018 builds on previous UPS investments of $100 million dollars in 2016 and $90 million dollars in 2017. . . .

Building CNG and LNG capacity is an important enabler for increasing UPS’ use of renewable natural gas (RNG). RNG yields up to a 90% reduction in lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions when compared to conventional diesel. Last year, UPS used 15 million gallon equivalents of RNG. The company is the largest consumer of RNG in the transportation sector.

The five new CNG stations will be in Goodyear, Ariz.; Plainfield, Ind.; Edgerton, Kan.; Fort Worth, Texas; and Arlington, Texas. Four hundred semi-tractors will be supplied by Freightliner and Kenworth and 330 terminal trucks by TICO.

UPS will deploy the new CNG vehicles on routes to utilize the new CNG stations as well as adding to existing natural gas fleets in other UPS locations including Atlanta, Ga.; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

UPS currently operates more than 50 natural gas fueling stations strategically located across the US, and outside the U.S. in Vancouver, Canada, and Tamworth, United Kingdom.

The initiative will help UPS reach its 2020 goal of one in four new vehicles purchased being an alternative fuel or advanced technology vehicle. The company has also set a goal of replacing 40% of all ground fuel with sources other than conventional gasoline and diesel. These goals support UPS commitment to reduce its GHG emissions from global ground operations 12 percent by 2025.

Using its Rolling Laboratory approach, UPS deploys approximately 9,100 low-emission vehicles to determine which technology works best in each route configuration. This includes all-electric, hybrid electric, hydraulic hybrid, ethanol, compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) and propane.

DHL Freight, one of the leading providers of road freight services in Europe, has purchased four Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)-powered Stralis trucks from IVECO. These heavy-duty, long-haul trucks have a driving range of up to 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) and enable a total weight of tractor and trailer of up to 40 tons.

The 4x2 tractors from IVECO contain two Liquefied Natural Gas tanks. The engine has 400 horsepower and 1,700 N·m torque, which is only slightly lower than diesel, which has 450 hp and 2,100 N·m. Nearly all of the regular features of the conventional IVECO Stralis, such as automated or manual transmission, are available in the LNG-powered model.

Compared to diesel, the use of liquid natural gas reduces particulate matter emissions by 99% and nitrogen dioxide by 96%. CO2 is reduced by up to 10% and can be even reduced up to 95% by using bio-methane. As for noise pollution, vehicles using natural gas produce up to 50% less noise than diesel vehicles. In addition to these clear environmental benefits, liquid natural gas provides economic benefits, due to its lower cost. . . .

Taken together, along with other purchases of long-haul NG trucks, it would indicate that major haulers have concluded that neither BEV or FCEV trucks have reached the point yet where they can handle that job, or else not at the lowest TCO.

Guy [I have lots of experience designing/selling off-grid AE systems, some using EVs but don't own one. Local trips are by foot, bike and/or rapid transit].

The 'best' is the enemy of 'good enough'.Copper shot, not Silver bullets.