U.S.A. Electric Truck Costs.
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• The States have been through the same trouble as other countries, in the early attempts to fit a lorry body to a pleasure-car chassis, with the usual disastrous results, and so much so that it means quite a few years to overcome all the bad effect created. Through the progressive nature of the population it is not felt so badly here as it was in Europe. The faults disclosed allowed electric-battery-driven trucks to coam into existence ; although they were slow and costly, they got a hold upon various trades, la eweries especially. They tound battery-driven electric trucks less expensive and more useful than horse-drawn trucks, and vastly superior to any bad petrol-driven
commercial vehicles.
As in other countries, very little effort was made by firms, employing transport of this kind, to obtain their exact running costs, so that it can be easily understood that, coupled with the little success which they had with bad petrol-driven motor trucks, it was difficult to get them to entertain a properly-constructed petrol motor truck. A year ago, when the " Commer Car" was introduced to the American market, electric trucks were "in" everywhere. Little by little, however, but now quite noticeably, it is found that the battery-driven electric truck is gradually being superseded by its formidable rival, the petrol-driven motor truck.
Once one is able to show figures and to prove reliability, as the Americans say, " there is nothing to it.." During the last 12 months, we have heard a lot of the much-vaunted and long-talked-of Edison battery. This battery is now supposed to be perfected, and to be a slight improvement, under certain conditions, over the ordinary lead-plate battery. Last winter, however, it was discovered that it was practically impossible to charge this battery in cold weather, excepting at a very high cost, and then its efficiency was found to be reduced considerably. Further troubles developed in cold weather which had not shown under normal conditions in the factory, or in warm weather. This Edison-battery bogey has now received its " nine hundred" quietus, but it will probably bob up again in a different form. Anyhow, even with an Edison battery, when perfected, the comparative costs of such a truck and the petrol motor truck do not bear comparison.
It will be of interest to readers to have sonic actual running costs, so I append the following data. Before doing so, however, I wish to state that the largest satisfactory electric truck employed to-day is found to be a 3k-ton truck. Anything larger shows an extremely high running cost, due to battery upkeep and extra weight. In view of the fact that salesmen occasionally come up against an electric proposition, I am enumerating in this article what I believe to he the correct cost per ton-mile of carting goods electrically in the States, by means of the best makes of battery-propelled electric motor trucks. The way I arrive at the figures is : Dealing first with the upkeep, the manufacturers of electric trucks guarantee within 10 per cent. of the maximum rate, namely, 24 miles per day, for a period of three years, at an upkeep cost of battery and mechanical details of 2310 for the three years. At the end of this period, 271 is the estimated expenditure for battery renewals to put it in good working condition. The size of the truck to which I am referring is a 34-tormer, this being the largest size electric truck made and sold under this guarantee. The cost, therefore, of the mechanical upkeep of the truck for three years is 2361, or 2127 per annum. The mileage which this electric truck can run, namely, 24 miles per day, less 10 per cent., equals approximately 6,500 miles per annum.
The cost per mile for mechanical upkeep of this truck on this basis works out at 4.7d.
The cost of depreciation on the price of this chassis (2740), at 1E1 per cent., this being the figure the manufacturers allow, is £92 Is. per annum, which equals 3.5d.
The cost of charging depends on the price paid for the current If the useer generates his own current, the most-economical cost would be lid. per kilowatthour ; if he purchases the current out, it is 21c1. per kilowatt-hour. Express companies like the Adams pay 2-id. per kilowatt-hour. Let us base our figures on the minimum ,cost. The battery is of 300 ampere-hour capacity at 100 volts ; they require eight hears to charge. We get the following results : 300 x 100 x 1.25d. X 8 9s. 6d.
1,000 Assuming the efficiency of the battery to be 80 per cent., this equals 38. per charge, if power is generated by the user, equalling, per mile, 11d. The cost of the tires we will assume bo be on the same basis as gasoline trucks, although the weight is heavier. The guaranteed figure for this is 3id. The driver at 23 12s. per week, or 12s. per day, I ravelling 24 miles, equals 6d. Insurance is 230 per annum, or 2s. id. per day, say, 1d. per mile. For lubricating oil, allow 6d. per day, equals id The foregoing, together, come to nearly 6d. per ton-mile—about double what a gasoline truck costs to run, whereas, with a gasoline truck, the extra convenience of rapid delivery and extended service up to 100 miles daily is not taken into consideration. This, alone, is worth a considerable amount to a transport department. I am not taking into consideration the cost of storage, but this, when compared with the gasoline truck, must be very much more, as a gasoline truck would do certainly twice the work of an electric truck, if not three times, and hence space occupied would be at least twice that for gasoline trucks on account of the extra number of trucks required.
A very good basis to figure the cost of cartage and the various types of transportation in the States is : Average cost of horse transportation 9d. per ton-mile
electric 77 6d.
e gasoline ,,3d.
There is still a lot of educational work of the elementary sort to be done in the States with buyers of petrol motor trucks, and requests for engine under driver's seat, mechanical governors, etc., etc., keep on cropping up and have to be argued out. While on the subject of engine under the driver's seat, I do not know whether my views on this subject would not be of interest, as, apart from the inaccessibility of the engine, there arises a distinct theoretical reason, which defeats in another way its own object, when the construction is of this form.
Side-slipping is greater in reality when the weight is distributed equally on the front wheels as well as on the hind wheels, as recovery cannot be so readily effected. In practice, from very careful-experiments carried out by me in 1905, the proportion of load on the, rear axles to the front of three to one was found to be about correct. It is quite simple to carry out an experiment of the kind, to prove this on any kind of a truck, by simply altering the position of the load, and it is surprising to find the difference in petrol
consumption if the load is placed right back, over or behind the rear axle, and placed forward. It further stands to reason, if one's front wheels dig into the ground, .as they do if a load is placed on them, that extra effort is required to push forward these front wheels. The digging process of the front wheels wears out tires, and the extra drive necessary. to overcome this on the back wheels, and their slipping often, likewise wears out tires, and, whereas to the casual observer it may seem that only the front wheels would suffer by this extra weight on the front wheels, as a matter of fact the back tires wear considerably. more. Worked out in pence, I am hold enough to say that a truck with the motor-under-seat construction will cost from 10 to 30 per cent, more in tires than a truck constructed with the engine under the bonnet, which necessitates by force of its general arrangement that the load is placed far back. The only advantage is the small amount of saving in length of the total truck, namely, 2 to 4 ft. Taking into consideration the length of a horse, if this extra few feet can compare with the length of a quadruped, then things are in a very bad way.
" Homoc."