The Show Which Opens on . Friday. ,
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THE QUES±ION, put so often lately, as to what the Commercial Vehicle Show is going to be like has implied some fear, on the part of the questioner, as to the possibility of the Show lacking interest. During the pd,st five weeks, thp worksof every one' of the concerns in this country, manufacturing commercial motor vehicles—petrol, steam, and,electric—has been visited by one or other member of the editorial.staff of this journal, and the consensus of opinion, after this extensive round of , visits, is that the Show will be extraordinarily rich in interest. New models are being shown in such numbers as to demonstrate, in the first place, that the lessons learned during the past six years have been usefully applied and, in the second place, that the, makers are prepared with their reply to the competition of the returned war vehicle.
Without incurring the charge of exaggeration, it has been a, crime against the industry that this country should, after having had to absorb, or being prepared to absorb, the returned vehicles from our . own Army, have had to take the surplus from the American Army of Occupation (which the Americans, astutely but selfishly, refused to allow to be taken; back to the States), and, now, owing to the fallen value of the lire, should have to meet the competition of the Italian surplus army vehicles. "' ' The answer of the British makers, as the Government has not seen fit to protect the trade" by prohibiting or restricting the ,impOrtation'of these wai-worn warriors, must be theproduction'of vehicles so far in advance of the second-hand vehicles, in quality, reliability, economy -of -running, and maintenance, that the second-hand vehicle can only make its appeal to the little man to whoth first cost is the only real consideration. Snell' a man could never meet and beat his rival in 'conipetition:' . . _ In order 'that our forecast and -guide to:the Show shall not be condensed into an indigestible, Mass Of scant information (for it must be remembered' that there are over 100 exhibitors accommodated on the ground floor of Olympia -and 106 in the gallery) we have dealt fully and adequately with all the exhibits in forecast form in the' past pa.st fiV*e. issues of The Commercial Motor.We hive, thus, been able to draw attention, in' an adequate Manner, to aft the salient features of -"the vehicle exhibits and to summarize, that information" and to deal with trie exhibits that have not lent themselves to this treatment, in the present issue. The accessories and component parts were dealt with in our last issue. With the plan of the Show and the classified list of exhibitors■appearing on page 269 and the'pointers contained in the ".Busy Man's Guide to the ShoW," appearing on the pages immediately subsequent, we have made it easy, We hope, for the man with, none too much time at his command to see the' leading features of the exhibition' and, thus; to avoid the disappointment of learning, when it is toe late, &F something that he would have liked to have exaMined with his own eyes.
Our next issue will contain a fully illustrated report of the Show, written by experts in a concise ferm, and it may interest our readers to know that, in particular, that issue will enjoy an enormous circulation, world-wide in character.
The Tramway's Failure to Meet Modern Requirements. The Tramway's Failure to Meet Modern Requirements.
ANY MUNICIPALITY laying down a traniway system in these days of the (for all practical puposes) perfect motor omnibus would be doing an unwise thing. A tramway system, is so infletible that the cost of the permanent way is no longer justified: the, rubber tyre and the powerful motor engine have removed the need for a smooth -steel track, which was only rendered necessary because of the limited power of a pair of horses and of the need (if the tramway, with its heavy overhead charges, were to pay its way) for a large number of . , . , , passengers to he carried per vehicle. . , . , , The creation of facilities has developed the habit of travelling and, to-day, people need to be carried in . , all directions according to the circumstances of the hour. Tramways can 'never" equal the bus services for the very reason that they cannot be extended at a. few days' notice or their routes diverted in :order to meet' the exigencies of the hour. Nor would' it be an economic proposition to make such a pro vision. . , ' In another column we refer to the manner in which the ,citizens of Nottingham are suffering becaulie the Corporation has its money invested in a .. traMway system; on which a high scale of fares is found to be necessary in order to help relieve a depleted municipal exchequer, and in order that this end shall not be imPerilled, omnibus competition is sternly' repressed and the public is put to enormous inconvenience, particularly on busy nights and in the crush hours; hundreds of passengers often being left with no means of conveyance because of , the inadequate service.' ' The case of Nottingham is akin to that in many other centres of p'dpulation, and the remedy is-to be found in a bold handling of the subject, the planning of bus mutes which will provide a sufficient vciume of traffic and where the existence of the service will serve to develop that traffic. That the existing tramways (the abolition of which will eventually be desirable, but is not yet justifiable) would suffer is not a. tenable argument : rather, they would tend to benefit from the increased tendency of the popula tion to travel. .
The forthcoming municipal elections will afford a good opportunity for these questions to be raised and discussed, and ratepayers should take that opportunity to return to the council chamber only such men as are prepared to adopt a progressive policy and are keen to show that they place public convenience in front of the face-saving policy of tram ways departments. _
Working Cost Estimates that Tend to Mislead.
WHILE WE FULLY recognize the very exceptional merits of the electric vehicle in certain specific spheres of work, we cannot help thinking that there is still a tendency on the part of its advocates to exaggerate its claims of general superiority over petrol and steam vehicles.
We have before us at the moment two series of estimates. The first series deals with petrol and steam vehicles, and has been carefully compiled by an experienced man. The other series deals with the cost of electric vehicles and has, similarly, been compiled by an expert in that branch of traffic. When we compare the two series it becomes obvious that ' either the one is too modest or the other claims, too much.
The conclusion to which the comparison would lead the potential buyer would be that the electric vehicle is vastly more economical in practically every conceivable class of work. Thus, the estimate for a 10 cwt. petrol van running 60 miles a. day gives a total expenditure of 54s. 7d. a day. The estimate for a 10 cwt. electric van covering the same distance totals to 40s. 7d. a day. When we look, into details, we see that depreciation on the petrol vehicle is allowed at the into of 20 per cent. Depreciation on the electric chassis is only allowed at 74. per cent. We cannot see that it is possible to justify so great a discrepancy. If the life of the petrol vehicle, covering a given mileage under given conditions, is no more than five years, then the life of an electric vehicle with similar mileage and conditions would certainly not be upwards of 13 years, as the estimates, if accurate, would lead, one to suppose.
Again, the item of repairs and maintenance for the petrol van are reckoned on a basis of a lid. a. mile, which gives es. 3d. for a working day of 60 miles. The repairs for the electric chassis are somewhat casually put down as 215 per annum, whatever the mileage may be between 20 and 60 miles per day. This is,. obviously, incorrect, and we cannot believe that, in the average instance, the repair bill of a. 10 cwt. petrol van is six times as heavy as that of a corresponding electric vehicle.
Next take the item of tyres. This is reckoned in the case of the petrol vehicle at 10s. 6c1. for each 60-mile day. For the electric vehicle it is put as low as 6s. 3d. for the same distance. Pneumatic tyres are, 116
of course, assumed to be used in both cases. The smooth acceleration of the electric vehicle may, certainly, lead to some tyre economy, but, on the other hand, the electric vehicle is, probably, considerably heavier than the petrol vehicle, which would go far towards balancing the account, and we do not con. skier that the difference in favour of the electric should be put higher than 10 or at the most 15 per cent.
Thus, without going further, we can see, by comparing three important items, a marked difference in the point of view of those who have prepared the estimates.
When one turns to the estimates for vehicles of larger capacity, similar discrepancies are noticeable and an analysis results in similar discoveries. Thus, to take one point of many, we know that a 6 ton steam wagon has, by reason of its source of power, almost a.s steady an acceleration as a corresponding electric vehicle. There seeins, therefore, to be no particular reason why there should be any great difference between the tyre costs incurred on these two. We find, however, that, for a 30-mile day, the tyres of the steam wagon are reckoned to depreciate at the rate of 6s. a day, and those of the electric wagon at only 3s. id. a day.
An Effect of Different Conditions of . Working.
IN MAKING these various comparisons, we do not for a moment impute to the champions of the electric vehicle any deliberate intention to claim too much. It may be that the other party is claiming too little, and, in respect of the particular estimates on which these remarks are based, we think that, in some instances, this has been the case.
More generally, however, the comparative figures are probably influenced by the fact that the electric vehicle is only particularly well suited for use in urban or suburban sevvice. It generally runs over roads that are at least fairly good and seldom has to encounter excessive gradients. Thus, estimates for the electric are likely to assume working conditions which the user of the average petrol or steam. vehicle would regard as exceptionally favourable ; too favourable in fact to be used as a basis of reliable estimates.
In short, when we compare figures of this sort, we are probably comparing the cost of running a petrol or steam vehicle under moderately bad conditions with the cost of running an electric vehicle under dis tinctly good conditions. The comparison for the purpose of assisting selection is, therefore, practically useless, but the figures may still be a fairly reliable guide as to what may be expected in practice, assuming the electric vehicle only to be employed for a class of work to which it is pre-eminently suited. By way of comment on the whole matter, one may also draw attention to the fact that, up to the present, electricity has not superseded liquid fuel as a source of power for motor omnibuses, even though these run on fixed routes in urban areas, and, generally, under conditions which should render it possible to operate a fleet of electrics efficiently and economically. The electric vehicle has a very great field ; in its own sphere it does not fear competition, but this does not mean that it can also beat the steam or petrel vehicles each in its own sphere.