Preparing to Help Electric Vehicles.
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By the Editor.
The principal municipally-owned and companyowned electric-supplY undertakings are giving evidence of preparedness or preparations to help forward the cause of accumulator propulsion in the United Kingdom. This development, as we have oftentimes indicated, must begin in the cities and large towns, and must take a firm hold at such centres before it can be expected to make headway for inter-urban or long-distance requirements. Concerted action is admitted to be essential.
More than 10 Years Ago.
There have been several distinct and marked improvements in the ease for the battery vehicle, since Sir Ernest Cassel and Mr. Paris Singer, with the cooperation of Mr. Claude Johnson, now commercial managing director of Rolls-Royce, Ltd., made determined efforts, some 10 years ago; to place the electric vehicle on a sound footing in London. The design of electric motors for the purposes in view is now better understood, solid-rubber tires are now cheaper and yield good service under load, whilst, most important of all, there has been considerable progress in respect of improvements in the cells themselves.
Edison's Improvements.
We are by no means of opinion that the Edison battery only will yield the necessary results, but we do find, after careful inquiry, that recent detail improvements by Mr. Edison and his co-workers have brought that cell to a state of perfection which permits commercial success to be secured in many branches of business use. Accumulator-driven vehicles -of all descriptions are in very common use in the United States, and the wonderful endurance of the latest Edison battery, with a definite percentage of lithia added to the normal caustic-potash electrolyte, has been demonstrated in many places, and under a -variety of conditions. Retention of capacity is allimportant. Hopes are entertained that this appaTently small modification by Mr. Edison will treble the working life of his cells ; if this contention can be widely confirmed by running data in different centres, the place of the nickel-iron cell, constructed according to the outcome of Mr. Edison's researches, will count for much in the future of the industry. Other strong points of the nickel-iron cell are these : absence of short-circuiting on heavy discharge ; absence of deterioration if kept empty, and not immediately recharged after discharge. It is common knowledge, so far as lead cells of the pasted-grid type are concerned, that short-circuiting, over-discharging and failure to recharge promptly lead to dislocation of any system of working and considerable additions to the cost. and labour of maintenance.
Will Higher First Cost be Compensated by Lower Running Cost?
It is a pity that our electrical friends cannot hold out prospects of cutting down first cost of vehicle and battery to figures which will he on a level with petroldriven vehicles of equal load capacity. It may not, at -the moment, be fair to suggest a definite ratio, but we understand that first cost will be about 20 per cent. higher. Everybody knows that it is cheaper to build .a petrol engine than to provide the, equivalent power unit in the shape of a dynamo, so far as works cost. is concerned, chiefly because copper, which goes so largely into the construction of any dynamo, is a costly metal.
The electric vehicle has done well in America, despite the average high charge for electricity there. Away from exceptional centres, where water power may almost be had for the asking, the charge per B2 unit averages five cents. The comparable charge in the United Kingdom may be put at lid., or 40 per cent, less than in America, whilst there are prospects of an early reduction to id. per unit for any large consumer.
America, too, has found the electric vehicle suitable for another reason : the simplicity of driving control, which factor has particularly appealed,' we are informed, to private-car purchasers who do not wish to incur the expense of keeping a chauffeur. This factor will not apply quite so forcibly on the utility side, as few traders also drive their van or lorry.
Subject to limitation of use at the outset to cities and towns or to the immediate vicinity Of a power station, and subject to contentment on the part of the buyer with average speeds of, say, 12 m.p.h., we !anticipate that the battery-driven vehicle will be justified very soon in the United Kingdom, andethat it will reward its supporters with a share of the commercial-motor business that is passing or ready to pass. That share, however, will have to be won by hard work,, by proof of merit, and by satisfactory evidence to confirm the assertions that running costs are lower than those which are obtained from competing petrol and steam systems. The Best Way to Sell.
A great mistake will be made by the advocates of the electric vehicle, if they think that the best way to get business is by decrying the rival systems which have established themselves in public favour. We have never ..had the same respect in the industry, for men who make a practice of seeking orders by talking evil of their competitors' productions, that we have felt for those members of it whoekeep to the cleaner course of talking about the goods they thernsclvee have to sell. The safe and sure plan, is to rely upori the inherent advantagestof the system which is under offer. Systematic attempts to belittle petrol and steam will merely arouse. suspicion on the part of the many people who have been so well served by them in the past, and who areestill well served by the same agencies. We write generally, but indications have not been wanting that the temptation to begin the wrong way has exercised its allurements to some of our electrical friends.
Units Bought in Relation to Units Available for Propulsion.
There is one fundamental point, concerning the purchase of electricity 'for accumulators, which we feel deserves to be made clear to those readers of this journal—the majority, in point of fact--whose knowledge of matters electrical is either little or nothing. Extraordinary statements are sometimes made concerning the efficiency of an accumulator-driven vehicle, and the important point of the relation between the number of units which can be got out of the cells and the numbecof units which have to be purchased is not always appreciated. It is found, in practice, that for each ten units bought not more than 7.5 units can on the average be got out of cells of the pasted-lead type, whilst with nickel-iron cells only six units can be obtained at the battery terminals in respect of each ten units that are purchased. These ratios, however, do not by any means render the cost of the accumulator-driven vehicle prohibitive, but it is meet, in our opinion, that there should be no ambiguity concerning the facts. The ultimate economy of any aceurnuIatordriven vehicle does not depend only upon the energycost per mile run, any more than does that of a petrol-driven vehicle or a steam-driven vehicle depend solely upon the corresponding item in the expenditure account. It is proved total cost per mile that tells.