Electric lorry

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Istbclass

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Jan 14, 2019
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B200 DCT
Just seen an article showing a Stretch of motorway in Germany that has had overhead electric lines installed so that lorries can hook up like an electric train, fantastic I thought but then I wondered as it is only on the near side lane how will they be able to pull out to overtake their mate while travelling only one MPH faster, they won’t be able to block all the other traffic for miles so it will never catch on in the UK.
 
I have no problem with trucks, I do have a problem if someone overtakes in an inappropriate vehicle, ie one that can only travel at One MPH faster than the vehicle being overtaken, thus holding everyone else up. It seems it’s only trucks that do this but I would be equally frustrated if a car or any other vehicle did it.
 
lorry_print.jpg
 
I have no problem with trucks, I do have a problem if someone overtakes in an inappropriate vehicle, ie one that can only travel at One MPH faster than the vehicle being overtaken, thus holding everyone else up. It seems it’s only trucks that do this but I would be equally frustrated if a car or any other vehicle did it.

which takes a mere 90 seconds to pass and that 1mph over a 10 hour drive can make the difference between the driver sleeping in a layby or getting home to his family....
 
which takes a mere 90 seconds to pass and that 1mph over a 10 hour drive can make the difference between the driver sleeping in a layby or getting home to his family....

That's a good point. Short of just getting to work on time, few drivers are under time constraints as professional drivers are. Reps are similar but in the opposite sense - they don't earn while driving so getting to the next appointment as quickly as possible is part of their brief.
We're all using the roads in slightly different ways. Worth remembering I think.
 
I have no problem with trucks, I do have a problem if someone overtakes in an inappropriate vehicle, ie one that can only travel at One MPH faster than the vehicle being overtaken, thus holding everyone else up. It seems it’s only trucks that do this but I would be equally frustrated if a car or any other vehicle did it.

All too often on single carriageway (or short lengths of crawler lanes) a car in front will pull out to overtake and proceed at a pace that lets them past the obstacle - but no one else. Learned a long time back not to just follow them. The risk of being hung out to dry is enormous - and terrifying.
 
If people want to see the absolutely shocking and appalling driving standards in this country then they need only take a passenger ride in a HGV for a day.
 
which takes a mere 90 seconds to pass and that 1mph over a 10 hour drive can make the difference between the driver sleeping in a layby or getting home to his family....

True, but over a 10 hour drive and happening continously, means a car driver has a 16 hour journey instead of an 10 hour journey. And not one car driver either, more like a few thousand of them, who's being inconsiderate here?
 
If people want to see the absolutely shocking and appalling driving standards in this country then they need only take a passenger ride in a HGV for a day.

THe HGV driver you mean, surely?
 
I don't mind the overtaking slowly thing so much as the "I'll just pull out in front of you and you can do what you like" inconsiderate attitude of many a lorry driver.

Not like they don't fit mirrors is it...
 
I don't mind the overtaking slowly thing so much as the "I'll just pull out in front of you and you can do what you like" inconsiderate attitude of many a lorry driver.

Not like they don't fit mirrors is it...

For truckers and reps, maintaining momentum is everything. Something your average motorist is woefully inept at. Neither will give a motorist the chance to mess that up. Compared to how long it takes a truck to regain speed, a car can do that quickly - and without a governed speed limit, can put on a bit more to recoup lost time in a way a trucker cannot.
 
While I have a degree of sympathy with HGV drivers in general, I have absolutely no sympathy with those who take the p*ss.

In Austria a few years back, I was stuck near the head of a queue of traffic for almost 6 miles while two HGV drivers played “elephant racing”. Eventually, a police car had worked its way through the traffic close enough for the two clowns to see it and miraculously the one on the inside decided that he could, after all, sacrifice momentum and let the other one complete his pass. Assh*les, the pair of them :mad:
 
If people want to see the absolutely shocking and appalling driving standards in this country then they need only take a passenger ride in a HGV for a day.

I've done exactly that and it is enlightening from the high vantage point which gives an extensive view of the traffic.
 
which takes a mere 90 seconds to pass and that 1mph over a 10 hour drive can make the difference between the driver sleeping in a layby or getting home to his family....

Problem is that it is not just one truck acting as a minor impediment to a few adjacent drivers.

Major difference in journey times between busy weekend/holiday periods and weekdays on three lane motorways is the number of trucks impeding lane 2 and creating moving road blocks that then impede lane 3 - disrupting the overall flow of the motorway which has a much wider impact.
 
Tesla truck pulling a 53' trailer can do 0-60 in under 5 seconds.

As long as it doesn't have a limiter .....

Otherwise it's pretty much in the same position as any other truck crawling past another truck on the limiter.
 
As long as it doesn't have a limiter .....

Otherwise it's pretty much in the same position as any other truck crawling past another truck on the limiter.

So the problem isn't trucks, it's bad legislation
 
Tesla truck pulling a 53' trailer can do 0-60 in under 5 seconds.
Yeah with no load on it. Diesel hgv's are going to be around for a good while, battery weight alone taking off the payload. Finding space to recharge batteries on trucks and totally inconvenient to the operator with goods need to be at a certain place on time.
 
So the problem isn't trucks, it's bad legislation

It's truck drivers and traffic management.

HGVs shouldn't be allowed out of lane 1 during busy periods on some sections of the motorway - and shouldn't normally be allowed in lane 3 of four lane sections unless it is at a junction involving a motorway splitting or merging.

Conversely HGVs shoud be allowed to do 56mph on some non-DCs such as the A9 and other major trunk routes with wider roads. (A9 has a 'trial' 50mph limit for HGVsthat has been operational for a while now - and it improves traffic flow and reduces frustration).
 

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