If this thing is done on a larger scale it could be possible to average out even long-term fluctuations of renewable power.
If the recharging station for example keeps an array of standard battery packs for say 50 buses and 200 NEVs the amount of energy stored would probably be enough not to need a grid backup.
The real problem with such schema is that it would be very hard to implement. Swapping batteries would be a very cumbersome operation, and batteries themselves are yet too expensive and quickly degrading toys.
I have seen a suggestion that could help such schema though - if the battery is using liquid electrolyte which participates in the charge-discharge process (e.g. lead-acid), one could just leave the battery pack intact, while draining and "refueling" just the electrolyte liquid. However I can imagine the safety issues of changing the sulfuric acid in a lead-acid batteries, so it must be some other battery chemistry allowing for this.
P.S. I have repeated the point you made many times (falling of deaf ears unfortunately) - while renewables require considerable fossil fueled backup it is dubious to promote them as their replacement. If you need to add one coal power station after you build 100 wind turbines, how exactly are you helping the environment? Of course while penetration is low this problem is not so significant, but expecting a 30 or even 20% renewable powered grid is a pie in the sky (to counter the Denmark example which usually pops up - they are doing 20% wind using their heavy interconnections with other grids - not many places have this luxury).
A range of 200km will be enough for the day. Here in Melbourne buses have an average speed, what with traffic, no dedicated bus lanes, and stops, of about 20km/hr. That lets the 200km range bus travel for 10 hours, and the things only run from 6am to 11pm at most. In practice about half the buses run all day, and the other half run in the peak times (7am-9am, 4pm-6pm). So buses are constantly being shuffled in and out of depots anyway to cope with varying timetables throughout the day. It'd be trivial to turn those into recharging times; when the driver finishes their shift, they plug the thing in.
If this thing is done on a larger scale it could be possible to average out even long-term fluctuations of renewable power.
If the recharging station for example keeps an array of standard battery packs for say 50 buses and 200 NEVs the amount of energy stored would probably be enough not to need a grid backup.
The real problem with such schema is that it would be very hard to implement. Swapping batteries would be a very cumbersome operation, and batteries themselves are yet too expensive and quickly degrading toys.
I have seen a suggestion that could help such schema though - if the battery is using liquid electrolyte which participates in the charge-discharge process (e.g. lead-acid), one could just leave the battery pack intact, while draining and "refueling" just the electrolyte liquid. However I can imagine the safety issues of changing the sulfuric acid in a lead-acid batteries, so it must be some other battery chemistry allowing for this.
P.S. I have repeated the point you made many times (falling of deaf ears unfortunately) - while renewables require considerable fossil fueled backup it is dubious to promote them as their replacement. If you need to add one coal power station after you build 100 wind turbines, how exactly are you helping the environment? Of course while penetration is low this problem is not so significant, but expecting a 30 or even 20% renewable powered grid is a pie in the sky (to counter the Denmark example which usually pops up - they are doing 20% wind using their heavy interconnections with other grids - not many places have this luxury).
A range of 200km will be enough for the day. Here in Melbourne buses have an average speed, what with traffic, no dedicated bus lanes, and stops, of about 20km/hr. That lets the 200km range bus travel for 10 hours, and the things only run from 6am to 11pm at most. In practice about half the buses run all day, and the other half run in the peak times (7am-9am, 4pm-6pm). So buses are constantly being shuffled in and out of depots anyway to cope with varying timetables throughout the day. It'd be trivial to turn those into recharging times; when the driver finishes their shift, they plug the thing in.