Chapter 474 - 218: Full Utilization

Chapter 474: Chapter 218: Full Utilization

Old Liu drove the bus into the city, picking up eight more people along the way.

By now, only two of the twenty seats on the bus were left. There had originally been twenty-three, but three were removed to install a vending machine.

However, compared to his usual pace, Old Liu was driving much slower this time. This was mainly because the bus company planned to scrap its previous scheduling model in favor of more reasonable travel times.

This change had several goals.

First, it was to reduce accidents.

Second, it was to make the bus ride smoother and less bumpy for passengers.

Finally, it was to accommodate the new vending machine service. By reducing the bumpiness, and with a specially designed standing area, passengers could safely make purchases from the machine.

The prototype for this design was installed on this very bus. Whenever passengers wanted to make a purchase, they had to step into a safety enclosure, which would hold them within a fixed space to prevent them from falling during a sudden jolt.

There was only one safety enclosure, corresponding to the single vending machine.

As he rode along, Lei Bo noticed that two different people had bought drinks.

Throughout the trip, Old Liu drove very smoothly. There was no hard braking or sudden acceleration, whether stopping or starting. Although the trip took about a third longer, the ride experience was quite good.

In truth, most bus drivers were veterans. If they weren’t in a hurry, they could drive the bus with perfect stability.

The bus company’s previous management model was clearly flawed. They desperately compressed travel times and demanded strict adherence to the schedule. If drivers weren’t on time, they were penalized.

To meet these demands, the drivers had no choice but to speed, which led to a worse passenger experience.

Warnings or penalties for being late weren’t the problem. The problem was that the scheduled travel times were too tight, leaving drivers without a reasonably sufficient window to complete their routes.

When it came to speed and efficiency, buses could never compete with taxis or private cars, not even electric scooters.

That being the case, it was better to let the buses slow down and improve the passenger experience. After all, being ten or so minutes slower wasn’t a big deal.

Moreover, Liu Deming, who was managing the bus company, had already commissioned the network operations department to develop a big data analysis system. This system was designed to analyze passenger flow at every bus shelter and stop, with the ultimate goal of maximizing resource utilization.

Of course, having the buses slow down and drive more smoothly had another benefit: extending their range.

The smoother the driving, the less battery power was consumed.

The battery on the current test bus had a charging capacity of 225 kWh and a discharge capacity of 193.5 to 211.5 kWh, averaging around 200 kWh.

The Sponge Battery had a unique characteristic: its power-storing nanostructures were either fully effective or completely failed. Generally, there was no significant drop in capacity during the first 500 charge cycles. Between 500 and 620 cycles, however, as the nanostructures neared the end of their lifespan, some of the more unstable ones would begin to break down, causing a decrease in storage capacity.

But the rate of this degradation was not constant.

It varied significantly depending on the charging and discharging power.

If the charge and discharge power was below 30 kW, the total lifespan was around 900 cycles. For 30 to 60 kW, the lifespan was between 700 and 850 cycles. For 60 to 80 kW, it was between 600 and 700 cycles. If the power was 80 to 96 kW, the lifespan dropped to only 500 to 600 cycles.

For a stationary battery, with the help of a battery pack management system, it was possible to keep it operating long-term at a power of 0 to 60 kW, thereby extending its lifespan.

However, when used as a power source for a vehicle, frequent power fluctuations were commonplace, so one could only count on the minimum number of cycles.

「Before he knew it.」

The bus had already completed a loop around the city.

It arrived across the street from Kuishan Park in the city center.

This was the bus company’s battery-swapping station.

However, there weren’t many staff in the swapping area at the moment, as many of them were on holiday.

Old Liu glanced at the in-dash display and saw that there was still plenty of charge left. On this trip, he had driven about 80 kilometers and used around 48 kWh of power, which included the vending machine’s consumption. There were still about 152 kWh remaining.

Everyone got off the bus to take a short break.

In the rest area, Lei Bo casually bought a bottle of mineral water from a vending machine. He sipped his water while observing the bus depot.

Currently, the bus company had a total of 17 depots across the city. Several of them covered dozens of acres. Clearly, the company had acquired a lot of land to park its 1,295 buses and ensure smooth operations, charging, and battery swapping.

Although this land was designated for a specific purpose and its use couldn’t be easily changed, that didn’t mean it had no other value.

Take this depot, for example.

It had over 50 charging spots for buses.

The bus company was about to switch its entire fleet to Sponge Batteries and adopt a battery-swapping model, moving away from charging the whole vehicle.

This meant that the 50 bus charging spots at this depot would become simple parking spaces.

But the buses could just as easily be parked at the Tengfei Road depot. If they were, the parking space here could be freed up.

Fifty bus parking spots could be converted into 100 to 110 car parking spots. Adding the 10 car parking spots that were already there, the space could be adapted to accommodate about 120 cars.