News Disneyland to Electrify Autopia: Are Tomorrowland Speedway's gas cars next?

[MisterPenguin]

 

[Tony the Tigger]

They’re really late with this. It needs to happen, and it fits theming.

 

[Brian]

The LA Times out here trying to greenshame Iger into ponying up the money themselves is not a plot twist I expected.

 

[PizzaPlanet]

They’re in an interesting spot here. Can’t brag too much about the upgrade if you can’t commit to implementing it everywhere

 

[MisterPenguin]

They’re in an interesting spot here. Can’t brag too much about the upgrade if you can’t commit to implementing it everywhere

More important than the Speedway gas engines...

All the utility/golf carts at the resorts. Ugh. They're worse than Speedway or a smoking area when it comes to fumes. And they're loud.

If Disney wants to brag about zero carbon footprint, these gotta go electric.

 

[Brian]

Give me a break. The smart thing to do is implement it in one place first, learn from what goes wrong and right in that process, and then implement it more efficiently elsewhere.

Please, it's an electric go kart. Not exactly cutting edge stuff.

I'm certain the geniuses at WDI can get that right on the first try.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

It's an electric go kart. Not exactly cutting edge stuff.

I'm certain the geniuses at WDI can get that right on the first try.

You’re not thinking like a business.

They shouldn’t have the same attraction down at every park at the same time for refurbishments or renovations.

You get more bang for your buck when you can announce a refresh several separate times instead of once.

And obviously, you spread out the costs over time.

Plus, I stand by what I said before. There are always unexpected things that come up in any project every time. I guarantee it. You will always implement it better the next time. That means potentially shorter downtime for the second park, fewer bugs, etc.

 

[Brian]

You’re not thinking like a business.

They shouldn’t have the same attraction down at every park at the same time for refurbishments or renovations.

You get more bang for your buck when you can announce a refresh several separate times instead of once.

And obviously, you spread out the costs over time.

Plus, I stand by what I said before. There are always unexpected things that come up in any project every time. I guarantee it. You will always implement it better the next time. That means potentially shorter downtime for the second park, fewer bugs, etc.

Ordinarily I'd agree with you on the PR front, but this is a special circumstance since it touches on a social issue which is very important to many. They could get better "bang for their buck" by announcing that all the speedways around the world are going electric by (year), and they would win a lot of plaudits and gain a lot more coverage than just announcing each attraction's makeover one by one.

 

[doctornick]

Give me a break. The smart thing to do is implement it in one place first, learn from what goes wrong and right in that process, and then implement it more efficiently elsewhere.

They previously implemented electric cars in this attraction in Hong Kong. It’s not new for them.

 

[celluloid]

More important than the Speedway gas engines...

All the utility/golf carts at the resorts. Ugh. They're worse than Speedway or a smoking area when it comes to fumes. And they're loud.

If Disney wants to brag about zero carbon footprint, these gotta go electric.

Unfortuantely that is not happening.(nothing impossible but not anytime soon)They run too often for too much distance for what they are.

PARGOS are fun though.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Unfortuantely that is not happening.(nothing impossible but not anytime soon)They run too often for too much distance for what they are.

Uhh... A quick internet search shows ranges of 20-50 miles. But let's say it's only 10 miles. That's completely sufficient.

It's not like Pop has just one utility vehicle and they drive it non-stop all day long. They don't leave it 'running.'

They go from utility depot to a complex. And load/unload/do some work while the UTV is off. Then move on to the next. They're not circling the complex continuously.

And on the 'backside' of a resort where the utilities are, they can install recharging stations so that when the driver gets out to do whatever they came to do, it can be recharging -- if it needs it.

 

[Disstevefan1]

This would be a perfect application for removable battery packs. Battery packs can be charged off to the side and dropped in, JUST LIKE mobility scooters.

 

[DisneyCane]

Uhh... A quick internet search shows ranges of 20-50 miles. But let's say it's only 10 miles. That's completely sufficient.

It's not like Pop has just one utility vehicle and they drive it non-stop all day long. They don't leave it 'running.'

They go from utility depot to a complex. And load/unload/do some work while the UTV is off. Then move on to the next. They're not circling the complex continuously.

And on the 'backside' of a resort where the utilities are, they can install recharging stations so that when the driver gets out to do whatever they came to do, it can be recharging -- if it needs it.

If they are driven so little where is the ROI (financial and emission reduction) to change them over? It might make sense to purchase electric when they buy new UTVs and slowly end up swapping out the fleet but I don't see how it would make sense to do a huge CAPEX and do it all at once.

Regarding speedway, how much gas is actually used on average per day? I wouldn't be surprised if many other attractions use significantly more energy on a daily bases. Even though the other attractions are electric, it's not created by pixie dust so it isn't all "clean" energy even if you can't see or smell the emissions. How much more efficient are electric go-karts? We're not talking about advanced EVs with regenerative breaking and other optimizations for efficiency (which they do mostly to increase range per $ spent on the battery pack and get the efficiency benefit as a side effect).

 

[Brian]

 

[pdude81]

If they are driven so little where is the ROI (financial and emission reduction) to change them over? It might make sense to purchase electric when they buy new UTVs and slowly end up swapping out the fleet but I don't see how it would make sense to do a huge CAPEX and do it all at once.

Regarding speedway, how much gas is actually used on average per day? I wouldn't be surprised if many other attractions use significantly more energy on a daily bases. Even though the other attractions are electric, it's not created by pixie dust so it isn't all "clean" energy even if you can't see or smell the emissions. How much more efficient are electric go-karts? We're not talking about advanced EVs with regenerative breaking and other optimizations for efficiency (which they do mostly to increase range per $ spent on the battery pack and get the efficiency benefit as a side effect).

Now I didn't know their plans, but who lets off the gas in the speedway or autopia before the end? This is a red herring

 

[celluloid]

Uhh... A quick internet search shows ranges of 20-50 miles. But let's say it's only 10 miles. That's completely sufficient.

It's not like Pop has just one utility vehicle and they drive it non-stop all day long. They don't leave it 'running.'

They go from utility depot to a complex. And load/unload/do some work while the UTV is off. Then move on to the next. They're not circling the complex continuously.

And on the 'backside' of a resort where the utilities are, they can install recharging stations so that when the driver gets out to do whatever they came to do, it can be recharging -- if it needs it.

Nice armchair pitch, but not something that is going to happen with current cost effectiveness.

 

[mkt]

EV Batteries can potentially be extremely dangerous, especially ones subject to grueling conditions, rough service environment, and frequent recharges.

I loved the experience, but there is a lot of potential to do something different with the existing space.

Between parade floats and trackless ride vehicles, Disney has decades of experience with vehicle electrification.

I trust them to do this safely.

 

[larryz]

Between parade floats and trackless ride vehicles, Disney has decades of experience with vehicle electrification.

I trust them to do this safely.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Uhh... A quick internet search shows ranges of 20-50 miles. But let's say it's only 10 miles. That's completely sufficient.

It's not like Pop has just one utility vehicle and they drive it non-stop all day long. They don't leave it 'running.'

They go from utility depot to a complex. And load/unload/do some work while the UTV is off. Then move on to the next. They're not circling the complex continuously.

And on the 'backside' of a resort where the utilities are, they can install recharging stations so that when the driver gets out to do whatever they came to do, it can be recharging -- if it needs it.

Super easy. Use removable/rechargable battery packs just like ECVs. Self contained, drop in, no connections to worry about, they can have many charged battery packs charging on the side. The range of a ECV is fine for this application providing you have enough charged battery packs.

They can use the same motors, circuitry, chargers and Gel batteries like ECVs that are will not go into thermal runaway like the batteries in EVs do.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Super easy. Use removable/rechargable battery packs just like ECVs. Self contained, drop in, no connections to worry about, they can have many charged battery packs charging on the side. The range an ECV is fine for this application providing you have enough charged battery packs.

They can use the same motors, circuitry, chargers and Gel batteries like ECVs that are will not go into thermal runaway like the batteries in EVs do.

You don't need to convince me. You need to convince those ideologically opposed to electrification of transit.