Interesting transportation things

[202_Cyclist]

Has Joby Cracked The Power Problem To Make Electric Air Taxis Work?

Jeremy Bogaisky
Forbes
11/23/2020


Joby Aviation founder JoeBen Bevirt (right) stands with Executive Chairman Paul Sciarra, a key early investor and architect of the company's commercial strategy, in front of a prototype of their electric tiltrotor aircraft. (Image courtesy of Forbes)

"As a college freshman in 1992 interested in building aircraft capable of taking off and landing vertically, JoeBen Bevirt landed in the right place: the lab of flying car pioneer Paul Moller at the University of California at Davis.

But despite deep respect for Moller, Bevirt soon concluded that it wasn’t going to work. The rotary gas-powered engines Moller was developing for his Skycar were intolerably loud and research Bevirt did on batteries led him to believe it would be decades before they would contain enough energy at a low-enough weight to make a quieter electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft possible. He turned to robotics instead."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremyb...h=3ab381076a73

[M II A II R II K]

UAE's first national rail network 'has the potential to transform the economy'

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/e...ntl/index.html

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- In the Hajar Mountains between Dubai and Fujairah, engineers are blasting out a new frontier for the United Arab Emirates. Ton by ton, rock is making way for 16 kilometers of tunnel, which will one day see trains barreling through it on a journey from coast to coast, and potentially further afield. — A nation known for its love of cars, as well as its strategic ports and airports, the UAE is betting big on its first national rail network. The 1,200-kilometer (746-mile) artery will connect the Gulf of Oman to the Persian Gulf, down through the emirates, into Abu Dhabi's interior and to Ghuweifat on the border of Saudi Arabia, a key step in a long-mooted rail network crossing the Arabian peninsula.

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[SpongeG]

China builds a hypersonic jet engine capable of flying at 16 TIMES the speed of sound that could fly to anywhere in the world 'in two hours', Beijing claims

- The prototype is called a Soramjet engine and was tested in a Beijing wind tunnel
- Achieved speeds of Mach nine - the maximum test conditions of the tunnel
- Researchers claim analysis reveals the engine would function up to Mach 16

By JOE PINKSTONE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 13:59 EST, 1 December 2020

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...HCIbzqXoDQApRc

[M II A II R II K]

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[M II A II R II K]

The world's first underwater roundabout is opening in the Faroe Islands

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/article...ter-roundabout

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- An aquatic-themed underwater roundabout – the first in the world – will soon open below the Atlantic Ocean, linking up two of the Faroe Islands. The structure, made of natural rock and decorated by Faroese artist Tróndur Patursson, resembles a jellyfish and is illuminated with blue and green lights. --- The jellyfish roundabout lies at the end of a 11km-long tunnel, called Eysturoyartunnilin, which connects two of the most populous islands. Local leaders hope that the improved transportation link will help encourage tourism after the coronavirus pandemic subsides. The travel time between the capital of Tórshavn and Runavík/Strendur will be cut from more than an hour (64 minutes) to just 16 minutes.

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[dubu]

i like that green lighting. reminds me of a video game.

[M II A II R II K]

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[M II A II R II K]

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[Busy Bee]

Kinda cool, kinda weird and kinda stupid sort of all wrapped up into one. If that makes sense.

[M II A II R II K]

The slopes makes rubber tires better and a lot quieter too.

[ssiguy]

Rubber tire trams never took off and for good reason. While the technology works it offers no advantages and a lot of drawbacks over the alternatives.

Standard trams still over a superior ride while enjoying a whole plethora of potential suppliers as opposed to this proprietary technology. The potential cost benefits originally expected by not having to tear up the entire road for 2 tracks quickly evaporated as Rouen found out as the tires created small debits in the pavement and warping the rails so the entire roadway had to be rebuilt with concrete.

Conversely, these systems do not offer the multitude of manufacturers, low initial infrastructure costs, flexibility, and seamless travel advantages of BRT. Even their once advantage of a pollution-free, quieter ride, and faster acceleration over buses has evaporated as more electric and hydrogen buses hit the road.

In an attempt to create a best of both worlds technology they have instead created a worse of both worlds. Rubber tired trams really are a classic example of a solution looking for a problem.

[M II A II R II K]

Scotland Banks On Hydrogen Fuel Cell Trains For Zero Emission Railway By 2035

https://cleantechnica.com/2021/01/01...ilway-by-2035/

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- Scotland set a 2035 decarbonization goal for its passenger rail system last summer, and they sure have their work cut out for them. Squeezing diesel locomotives out of the picture is not as easy as it may seem. Electrification has been the weapon of choice, and now they’re moving in for the kill with new hydrogen fuel cell trains. Wait, what happened to electrification? --- Scotland set a 2035 decarbonization goal for its passenger rail system last summer, and they sure have their work cut out for them. Squeezing diesel locomotives out of the picture is not as easy as it may seem. Electrification has been the weapon of choice, and now they’re moving in for the kill with new hydrogen fuel cell trains. Wait, what happened to electrification?

- So far, battery-electric locomotives have been confined mainly to yard work. BNSF has just begun trialing a hybrid battery combo for longer hauls in the US, but it leans heavily on diesel. Battery-swapping is one solution to the charging issue. It is emerging in the electric car field, but it entails some logistics challenges of its own when locomotive-sized battery packs are involved. --- That finally brings us to hydrogen, and the UK electrification experience is instructive in that regard. Back in 2012 the UK announced ambitious plans to electrify its entire fleet of diesel locomotives, but things started to fall apart after just a few months when ambition came up against the state of technology, among other issues.

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[M II A II R II K]

The U.S. finally has a system to prevent deadly rail accidents. It took 50 years

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation...-safety-system

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- Using GPS signals, wayside radio towers and onboard computers, positive train control can track every train in the U.S. moving across nearly 60,000 miles of track. It’s designed to automatically stop a train if an engineer runs a signal, or slow it down if it’s moving too fast. The system cost some $14 billion, by industry estimates, and took nearly half a century.

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[Busy Bee]

The headline to end all headlines.

[M II A II R II K]

AWFUL



• Video Link

[ssiguy]

Good for Scotland and hydrogen is the way to go.

Battery power is good for suburban/commuter routes and especially when there is already some catenary infrastructure in place. It allows for incredibly easy expansion of the system with basically no new infrastructure required. For freight, longer distance passenger rail, cargo, agriculture, air planes, manufacturing, and heavy equipment hydrogen is the only answer.

I think in the future, hydrogen will overwhelmingly be our energy source and even for trucks and cars. Hydrogen offers what oil does now but without the emissions..............it truly is a 'one size fits all' energy source which battery simply isn't.

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

AWFUL

I don't know what's worse, the "gamer steering wheel" or that godawful soundtrack.

[M II A II R II K]

Aptera’s new hyper-futuristic three wheeled pod is a “no charge” solar car

https://www.stirworld.com/see-featur...arge-solar-car

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- Measuring roughly 14 feet by 7.5 feet with an overall height of nearly five feet from the ground, the dynamic looking vehicle offers a 25 cu. ft. volume of cargo capacity within, providing comfortable seating for two adults, and a pet if you fancy. Its all-wheel drive variant clocks in a 0-60 mph in a quick 3.5 second bout at 150 kW, while the front wheel drive version does the same in 5.5 seconds at 100 kW. Aptera has been extensively tested for “highway speeds” and for actual, on-road conditions, racing up to a top speed of 100+ mph with a maximum RPM of 110 mph on the tachometer. The Aptera vehicle is made of lightweight composites that are many times stronger than steel, allowing its unique body shape and form, narrowing toward its “tail” by design to reduce aerodynamic drag, to slip through with an impressive drag coefficient of 13.

- Aptera promises to deliver a range of up to 1,000 miles per full charge, which could be a hybrid of both solar and direct DC charging as in any EV, and that is the catch. A total of 180 solar cells make up its integrated array over the structure of the car body, lined up in diamond shaped panels on its hood and top. Eponymously dubbed the “Never Charge” solar array, it spreads out to about three square meters, its power equivalent being 700 W. Said assembly and its self-charging feature while parked boast a range of up to 40 miles per day, entirely solar, proving a boon for the “regular” urban commuter. Simply spelt, as long as the commute per day lies somewhere within that range, the car can run at virtually none or minimal external electric charge.

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[ssiguy]

That cool. I wonder how long it will take for the oil companies to buy the company out and then shelve the whole project.

[M II A II R II K]

FART orders new trains

https://www.railwaygazette.com/tract.../58177.article

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- SWITZERLAND: Ticino rail and bus operator Ferrovie Autolinee Regionali Ticinesi has awarded Stadler a contract to supply eight custom-made electric multiple-units to the Centovalli railway in time for the metre-gauge line’s 100th anniversary in 2023.

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