This Insane Bus Was ELECTRIC & Didn't Have Batteries!

you've probably heard that using public transportation is a good way to ease our need for fossil fuels but most buses of today are still either gas diesel or natural gas burning sure we have some pretty interesting breakthroughs on the horizon like battery powered ev buses maybe even hydrogen and then there's the hyperloop but what if there was some alternative reality where public transportation required no gas and no batteries turns out this urban commuter fantasy was for a brief moment a reality thanks to the landmark vehicle the gyro bus though short-lived this work of true innovation answered a modern problem using ancient technology the flywheel so how did this bus work what is a flywheel in the first place why did the gyrobus fade away into history and might this underlying technology be making a comeback we thought we'd take a ride on the magic gyro bus to explore these questions today on tuba davinci this video is brought to you by our 2-bit tribe our patrons and channel members that make all of this possible more on why you should join us in just a little bit in the 1940s swiss engineers at orlikon began exploring new methods of public transportation in particular they were looking for something quieter and cleaner than the typical gas guzzling buses while other high density metro areas began implementing trolley systems the swiss cities found integrating this new technology to be complicated and expensive trolleys require cables restricting their mobility to predetermined routes running new overhead wires was costly plus at the time batteries powering the buses just weren't what they are today enter yarn storsand chief engineer at machining fabric or lycon who borrowed centriole technology to come up with this from the outside this bus seems pretty unassuming but as like most things it's what's on the inside that makes it truly special with no internal combustion engine and no chemical batteries this brilliant spark of innovation was powered by one of the oldest machines in human history the flywheel so what exactly is a flywheel no it's not something exhibit would put on your car in an episode of pimp my ride wow that is an old reference basically a flywheel is a massive mechanical battery meaning it converts one form of energy electricity chemical energy etc into kinetic energy we actually did a video on all types of mechanical batteries which you can check out here an electric motor spins a giant mass around an axis that accelerates to incredibly high speeds where it stores rotational energy once the motor is turned off it functions like a generator siphoning that mechanical energy from the spinning mass reversing the process and producing electricity similarly to regenerative braking and electric cars interestingly this ability makes the mechanical flywheel a rechargeable energy storage system the amount of energy in a flywheel can be described by the following equation where the rotational energy is equal to one-half times the rotational inertia times the rotational velocity squared let's break this down a little bit to better understand it the rotational inertia is how difficult or easy it is to get a body spinning the equation for the rotational inertia is as follows where the m is the mass in kilograms and r is the distance of the mass from the center of rotation squared in meters if we substitute this value for rotational inertia into our energy equation we get this so let's say knowing this equation we decide to create the world's greatest flywheel first of all clearly adding mass will increase our energy storage but as you can see there are actually two smarter ways of doing this the first would be to increase the angular velocity or the speed in rotation because it increases with the square if we spun our flywheel twice as fast we'd actually have four times as much energy similarly if we have a squared value for r or the distance from the point of rotation that means that the further away the mass is from its center the harder it is to spin and inversely the more energy it will have once it's spinning you're probably familiar with the analogy of the figure skater who speeds up when their arms are in and slows down when they put their hands out so if space was no object it would make more sense to have a lightweight material like carbon fiber on the inside of our disk holding all of our heavier mass as far away from the center as possible if we had a theoretical one kilogram weight on a very light two meter rope it would have as much energy as a four kilogram weight on a one meter long rope so you can have either a wider flywheel or a heavier flywheel and there's that famous engineering compromise we always have to make with flywheels it's all about finding that sweet balance between rotational mass diameter and angular velocity to reach their highest potential modern flywheels have a few key components first there's a huge rotating cylinder on top of what's known as a stator the stationary part of a rotary system bearings support the rotor helping it resist forces so that it can stay steady while spinning at high velocities friction is kryptonite for flywheels early systems required high performance lubricants in order to work properly modern systems use magnetic bearings that levitate which basically eliminates any need for maintenance while reducing losses and efficiency to further improve efficiency most modern flywheels are stored inside a vacuum chamber to reduce drag and friction while early models are made of steel modern flywheels are made of more exotic materials like carbon fiber on the inside allowing more heavy masses to be further away from the center of gravity for obvious reasons flywheels attach to motor generators where they can then supply power to and from the energy grid today's flywheels can reach speeds of up to a hundred thousand rpm or revolutions per minute allowing them to store significantly more energy now this sounds kind of scary to you remember that trying to store a large amount of energy in a small space always is much like a huge barrel of gasoline or a large compressed tank of hydrogen or a huge battery pack the key really is engineering mitigations and safety considerations what's arguably most amazing about flywheels is that they're hardly new in fact they made their debut in potter's wheels before 2000 bc talk about a throwback flywheels continue to make their mark during the industrial revolution in combustion engines to smooth out the power delivered in driving devices in fact flywheels can still be found in modern transmissions but we'll get back to that first let's get back to our magic bus with the incredible power and efficiency of flywheels they seem to be the perfect option for switzerland's emerging transportation problem finally an option for a zero emission electric bus and best of all no cables or strings to hold it down the bus featured an electric motor which was fed on grid energy while the bus was stopped at stations the motor then revved up the flywheel which stored all that energy to keep the bus moving once fully charged around 3000 rpm these buses could travel up to six kilometers at speeds between 50 and 60 kilometers an hour depending of course on the bus load and travel conditions one bus installed in verodin lebanese reportedly traveled up to 10 kilometers on a single charge before we get back to the show i'd like to tell you about our happy little family we call the two-bit tribe you can join the tribe by becoming a youtube channel member or a supporter on patreon you'll get access to all of our videos ad free and our discord community to talk about future videos and even help write them we also do zoom calls and special giveaways each month some upcoming prizes include bottles of tesla tequila and when we reach our next membership milestone we're gonna do a really big giveaway but it's your support that helps keep the lights on and let us make payroll each month for our awesome growing team thanks to all of our current tribe members and if you're on the fence give us a shot there's no long-term commitment and i have a feeling if you like my videos you're gonna love our community so how did the bus keep moving charging stations along the route would feed the bus juiced from the grid through three booms mounted on the vehicle's roof a four and a half kilometer route could have as many as four charging stations charging from a standstill could take up to 40 minutes but once the wheel was up to speed adding additional power to the wheel took as little as two to five minutes about the time it would take to drop off and pick up passengers this meant that operating a traditional bus route where loading and unloading passengers takes a few minutes and most stops for only a few miles apart was completely within reach the wheel itself sat right inside the buses interior right alongside passengers the one and a half ton wheel rode in an airtight enclosed chamber filled with hydrogen gas to reduce pressure to keep resistance low but having a massive spinning wheel sitting inside a bus created a few unforeseen side effects some good some not so much on one hand the flywheel reportedly made a notably smoother ride according to passengers no clunky gear shifts no gas engine and vibrations but on the other hand a gyroscopic effect caused a bus to resist changes in direction which made things like taking turns far more challenging at its peak cities all over switzerland began adopting these new buses from the 1940s through the 60s they even made their way down to belgium congo which ended up being the largest fleet of 12 vehicles running over four routes initially the quieter cleaner unrestricted bus was a hit but there was a handful of reasons why we don't see gyro buses around the world today for one thing the wheels often ran into a significant issue related to wear and tear especially in congo where drivers would often take shortcuts across unpaved roads which impacted the bearings and ultimately destroyed the system sensible mines also grew concerned over placing a massive steel wheel spinning at incredibly high speeds in close quarters with passengers a bus carrying 20 passengers required a three ton flywheel but eventually it was energy consumption that served as a final nail in the coffin the bus operators determined that 3.4 kilowatt hours per kilometer for each bus on the road was simply unaffordable and so the wheels have stopped spinning for the gyro bus today only one bus remains fully intact at the flemish tram and bus museum in antwerp so was this also the end of the line for flywheels well not quite while flywheels likely won't be showing up in buses or evs in the future they have found their way into other areas in particular grid energy storage to this day flywheels utilize far more environmentally friendly materials than many chemical batteries they also possess high energy density and efficiency with numbers that can reach up to 90 percent they're resistant to fluctuations in temperature and they can last an extremely long time decades with little or no maintenance flywheels found in the james watt steam engine have been working non-stop for over 200 years for these reasons this ancient technology has found new life in uninterrupted power supplies for providing backup power to essential loads they've been used in aircraft rail transportation even nasa's g2 spacecraft and the iss to hold the space station at a fixed attitude relative to the earth's surface where they really shine is in providing ancillary services in grid applications for frequency regulation and power fluctuation support this is especially true for renewables like solar and wind where output can vary throughout the day the beacon power building in stevenson new york has the world's largest flywheel energy system the 20 megawatt system is a true landmark in flywheel energy storage technology as similar systems have only been applied in testing and small-scale applications recent studies have even evaluated the flywheel's efficacy in helping offset stochastic changes in wind energy research suggests that wind turbines equipped with flywheel technology as an energy storage option have better energy output during peak demand times and while flywheels may not end up living inside evs themselves israeli company chakra tech is developing ev fast charging stations which use what they termed kinetic batteries utilizing flywheel technology as we've often said on this channel there likely will never be a one-size-fits-all means of energy storage and production and while technology like lithium-ion batteries are making great strides and bringing renewables to the forefront we can't rule out other technologies even if it's from several thousand years ago the flywheel is sort of like keith richards we're not sure how but it's still here long after we thought it would be and it seems to be stronger than ever but let us know what you think our flywheels the superfly retro technology we should be showcasing or are there better older forms of tech that you can think of that deserve to make a comeback sound off in the comments section below so that is a deeper look into the gyrobus and flywheels thank you so much to all of our viewers and especially to our 2-bit tribe members the people who support us on patreon and as a youtube channel member if you want to be a rockstar supporter of the show join us on discord talk about future videos help write scripts and just generally chat with us come join us and become a tribe member by joining us on patreon or as a channel member and also take a look around and check out our other videos odds are there's probably some other videos you're going to like i'm ricky with two davinci and just remember the future is going to be awesome [Music] you

Channel: Two Bit da Vinci

Views: 947,337

Keywords: two bit da vinci, This Insane Bus Was Pure ELECTRIC & Didn't Need Batteries, flywheel, flywheel energy storage system, flywheel energy storage explained, gyrobus, gyro bus, gyro-bus, gyrobus flywheel, sustainable transportation, bus technology, electric bus, retro bus, flywheel bus, Oerlikon, swiss flywheel bus, mechanical energy, mechanical energy storage, flywheel energy, mechanical battery, flywheel battery, flywheel gyrobus, flywheel battery storage, battery free ev

Id: LHyUDihL_FQ

Length: 13min 35sec (815 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 03 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/dyyd]

Correction: It didn't have a chemical battery, it had a mechanical battery ;)

[u/afishinacloud]

It’s a 1940s bus that was used in Switzerland public transport. It used a flywheel that was “charged” at every stop using overhead contacts.

He also did a great job explaining how flywheels store energy, so it’s worth a watch for that. There’s a bit at the end where he mentioned an EV charger manufacturer that’s working on a charging station with a flywheel assist.