Similarly, I think that the six SCT Rabbit conversions that were in
fleet service for the city of Portland, OR in the 1980's got a
similar reception from the city employees that were "forced" to drive
them. It was part of a federally-funded study, and drivers were
expected to complete a vehicle report form each day after use.
The controller design was likely a big contributing factor to the
program barely lasting two years, the accelerator was disabled when
the clutch was depressed, and a R/C timer circuit prevented the go
pedal from being active until five seconds or so after the clutch
pedal returned to fully released. The result was that it was
impossible to smoothly accelerate during gear changes, touching the
pedal either intentionally or accidentally while in gear meant that
the car went into full regen (up to 250+ amps!). Downshifting and
releasing the clutch also produced immediate full regen. Think how
fun that was for the driver, and for those following. This was one of
the first modifications when I bought the car with 5,000 original
miles, rip out the accelerator inhibit circuit.
Designing ~any~ vehicle to be difficultly different from what drivers
are used to is certainly a recipe for failure. Making rank-and-file
grunt workers be the beta testers doesn't increase the chances of
product acceptance.
UPS freight terminals in larger cities have on-site fueling
facilities. I wonder how long the drivers would keep their jobs if
they routinely "forgot" to fuel the brown race trucks they use now?
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