Post #2253961

2026-05-08 10:59 UTC

What do electric buses do at night? They help balance the grid. First Bus in Glasgow: &quot;By flexing when buses are charged, the depots can increase demand at times when there is excess renewable energy on the system, particularly wind power in Scotland, and reduce demand during peak periods. This helps reduce the need to curtail renewable generation and supports a more efficient, flexible energy network.&quot; https://news.firstbus.co.uk/news/first-bus-launches-uk-first-trial-to-support-national-grid-using-electric-bus-depots

Replies (13)

@burger_jaap@mastodon.social 2026-05-08 11:02

RE: https://mastodon.social/@burger_jaap/114852051000477418 another opportunity made possible by electrification

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@UkeleleEric@mstdn.social 2026-05-08 12:04

@burger_jaap@mastodon.social BUT, as a regular driver of an electric bus, it never ceases to amaze me how much of the electrics are powered on when the vehicle is not moving, even when 'powered down', and therefore how quickly the battery drains at rest.

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@Workshopshed@mastodon.scot 2026-05-08 12:17

@burger_jaap@mastodon.social doing my own little bit of that down here in the South too

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@DavidM_yeg@beige.party 2026-05-08 12:21

@burger_jaap@mastodon.social The best way to “reduce the need to curtail renewable generation” is to create a (carefully regulated) market for energy storage

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@cutesobri@cathode.church 2026-05-08 14:20

@burger_jaap@mastodon.social this is so cool

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@LovingFalloutLondon1954@mastodon.social 2026-05-08 15:00

@burger_jaap@mastodon.social They reproduce, giving birth to Citroen Ami's, which grow up to be real cars.

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@dckim@mastodon.social 2026-05-08 15:54

@burger_jaap@mastodon.social that makes a lot of sense, and from the perspective of my home province of Ontario in Canada, where we sometimes need to offload electrical power cheaply to the USA(because there is too much for the grid), this is something we should be looking at carefully.

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@yamabikko@theforkiverse.com 2026-05-08 16:10

@burger_jaap@mastodon.social This is great, bringing the intermodal model to energy infrastructure. So many possibilities - electrified public transport, electrified School bus transport, private freight transport. Is that a virtuous circle?

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@photom@mastodon.social 2026-05-08 21:27

@burger_jaap@mastodon.social based and orangepilled

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@catch56@kolektiva.social 2026-05-09 06:53

@burger_jaap@mastodon.social this reminded me of how underused home solar batteries are. Rather than a long series of replies, made a new thread. https://kolektiva.social/@catch56/116543191062783040

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@mikeday@ohai.social 2026-05-09 07:10

@burger_jaap@mastodon.social around 15 or so years ago, China proposed taking this one step further. If you can state when you next need to drive your electric car when connecting it to a suitably adapted charger, the grid can balance energy further by taking energy from all the connected cars to supply a short term peak demand before charging them again. I don't know whether this was actually done but it was a genius idea.

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@rpbook@gts.phillipsuk.org 2026-05-09 15:27

@burger_jaap@mastodon.social @clacksee@wandering.shop one for your good news items?

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@ideogram@social.coop 2026-05-10 10:32

@burger_jaap@mastodon.social I *hope* they do similar in Victoria (Australia) but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't. Privately owned.

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