The clever way food trucks are now using e-bike batteries(electrek.co)
18 pointsby jerlam13 days ago2 comments
  • wodenokoto13 days ago
    Hotdog stands and mobile fish mongers selling fresh fish outside supermarkets are all hooked up to main power in Denmark.

    I’m surprised that a wagon that sits in the same place every day in New York can’t get a line of power. Surely the food vendors must be paying rent and permits for the spot, so it’s not like anybody is surprised that a power outlet is needed.

    • jerlam12 days ago
      They probably don't pay rent for the spot. The point of a food truck is that it's technically just a vehicle, and vehicles are allowed to move and park whenever there is parking. I'm sure there are rules about how long a vehicle can stay in one location and other restrictions, and there are fights about which food truck was "there first", but I don't think they pay rent in the traditional sense in public areas.
  • jgalt21213 days ago
    > replacing small gasoline generators with silent, emissions-free electricity.

    I know more and more electricity these days is produced by green sources, but the statement above which I read often, is never strictly true.

    • Arnt12 days ago
      When I had a job at a power plant near where I live, one of the engineers there pointed at the big chimneys and said (I translate:) "what comes out of those chimneys is cleaner than the air around us". They filter out everything except CO₂ with good efficiency and have big, heavy, expensive machinery and engineers onside 24/7 to monitor that it works.

      A 5kg motor, optimised for portability, isn't going to be like that.

      • jgalt21212 days ago
        CO2 is the problem, and it still remains, even in your best case scenario.
        • Arnt12 days ago
          The problem? As in, the only one?

          A matter of opinion. As I see it the several carcinogenic components of ICE exhausts are problems. Dying of cancer may be a small problem compared to an uninhabitable planet and I can see how one might consider it insignificant in comparison, but in my opinion, cancer is a real problem, including cancer caused by smog.

    • melling13 days ago
      Where are the emissions generated? Far away from the population of millions.
      • duskwuff13 days ago
        And much more cleanly/efficiently than a small gasoline-powered generator, regardless of the energy source.
        • dilyevsky13 days ago
          Coal-powered steam turbine is not that more efficient than a portable gas generator so considering coal is more carbon-intensive it's actually about the same or even worse in terms of emissions if you consider coal burning also produces mercury. Now nat gas-powered CCGT - different story. Good news is NYC is mostly powered by the latter and there's zero coal.