Re: Charge or just swap the batteries?
Of course, many UK towns used to have trams (some still do) and in particular trolleybuses which run from a pair of overhead cables, rather than a single overhead and a ground return. You can ride on one at the Black Country Museum. Very quiet and comfortable and when you get to the other end you can buy chips cooked in beef dripping*. Tasty.
Maybe a hybrid solution is called for? Run on conventional Diesel or Diesel-electric hybrid power when on a motorway, but switch to overhead electric where available, for example in city centres. Slower speeds, less chance of falling off and if it does fall off there's the battery or Diesel engine to get the lorry back into position. I bet you could even build a self-locating wheeled pantograph these days - like on the old trams - rather than relying on a large contact zone.
M.
*Not sure who was the first, but several museums now seem to offer "old fashioned" fish and chips. Blists Hill has a fryer, St. Fagans has recently opened one too and I've no doubt there are many more. Lincolnshire even has a non-museum chip shop still using a coal-fired range.
Almost seems like an excuse for a chip-shop-crawl :-)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
