Novartis Under Fire From Protesters; SBB Announcement Sirens May Bid Adieu; First Teslas, Now Electric Garbage Trucks?; Electric Charging Stations Push For Highways

News For 27 March 2018

Protesters blocked the entrance to the Novartis campus yesterday in an effort to bring attention to the company's ongoing involvement with Turkey.  In particular, the protesters are upset that by continuing to have production facilities in the country, support is being given to president Erdogan and his policies.  This was the second protest in a week in front of the Novartis headquarters.

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Anyone who has every traveled on Switzerland’s national railway is familiar with the three dings followed by the soothing female voices. However, after 15 years the SBB is looking at modernizing its announcement system, according to the Aargauer Zeitung.

Beginning in spring 2019, the SBB will test an automated system that would have fully updated and customized data about the rail network converted into speech.

 

Whether the onboard train staff will continue to wish passengers a good morning or apologize for delays under the planned new system is unclear. So, too, is the fate of the current crop of SBB voices - one for each of the four national languages.

 

What is clear is that in a 2013 blog entry, the SBB said that “the reason the speakers are women is psychological. Studies show that female pitches come across as more likable. And that’s true for both sexes.”

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Basel-Stadt is continuing to look to increase it’s fleet of e-vehicles. Last week we told you about seven new Teslas the Basel-Stadt police department purchased for almost one million Swiss Francs.

Now, the city wants to replace their diesel garbage trucks with e-trucks. According to a city official they want to replace 20 of their current trucks in the next five years with the more environmentally friendly garbage getters. Last Tuesday, the city completed a “very good” test of an e-truck. The cost of the e-truck is about twice as high as a diesel vehicle, however operating costs are likely to be lower.

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The decision by Basel Stadt to move its fleet of public operated vehicles to electric power appears precient based on an announcement by the Swiss Federal Roads Office.  Last Friday, the Bern based organization announced its intent to solicit bids for private companies to install electric car charging stations on highways throughout the country.  Although a few charging stations are already available in canton operated patches of highway, the federal plan calls for 100 charging stations by 2019.