skeetab5780 wrote:Ya overhead wiring is soo ugly. Nvm these power grids would cost a fortune. Cant they atleast hide the power lines in a guard-rail on the passenger side of the vehicles and have telescoping arms like those scary new robotic trash trucks
I don't think a good position for the 3rd rail is atop the guardrail. Your telescoping arm would cream any cyclist riding on the shoulder, for one thing.
But seriously:
As I understand, in the popular view, the main disadvantage e-vehicles have relative to internal combustion engine (ice) vehicles is range. But e-range can be indefinite if the vehicle is supplied while moving.
One method is inductive power transfer, using tuned inductors. This method has potential, but the discussion about it goes somewhere else.
Another method is the overhead wire & pantograph, but the wires are unsightly, expensive, and fragile.
The 3rd rail system it the other option. In times past, the 3rd rail had to be associated to a tracked vehicle because the connector and power rail had to be a consistent distance from each other, and interruption of the connection isn’t well tolerated by a vehicle with no on-board electricity storage. But now the connection to the 3rd rail can be made automatically, and the connector-3rd rail distance isn't critical. And now, with on-board electricity storage, interruption is easily tolerated.
The problem of having exposed high voltage conductor can be eliminated by only powering the part of the 3rd rail that is covered by the vehicle. In other words, I propose a 3rd rail system, or
Ground-level power supply, with a flat conductor in electrically-separated lengths of, say, .6 meter (2 feet). The sections are powered only when a vehicle is above it.
