Who said battery-powered vehicle should have four wheels? Not us, nor the Japanese vehicle maker Kawasaki. They’re developing a tram or a “light rail vehicle” in their terms, powered by nickel-metal hydride batteries and that already succeeded in running 10km on a single charge.
Ten kilometers are still something in crowded urban areas. But the main idea of the SWIMO is to take passengers in no electrically powered portions of the rail network.
You might object: Why can’t we use buses to do the job and that are currently handling the job quite well? And you’ll be right, but here’s a thought. Even if buses turn battery-powered, they’ll still need to stop a while to get recharged. The tram has the advantage to recharge itself while running, so no more stop at the pit.
Note: Sorry for the small picture. We cannot find any bigger and more realistic.
Cocolico — Half train, half bus, dual-mode buses emerge in Japan – March 1, 2007
[…] are trying to get “out of the network”. We’ve seen vehicle maker Kawasaki developing a tram running on batteries, according to us, to be able to run in portions not electrically powered. But there’s also […]