Why Electric Vans are Popular in Winnipeg.
Page 7
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By Our Own Correspondent in the City.
With the idea of giving the user of electric commercial vehicles an exact figure for the monthly operation of an electric truck, the Canadian Motor Co., Ltd., of Winnipeg, some 12 months ago worked out a system for the care of these machines which enabled it to quote a flat rate per month for storage, charging, washing and general oversight of the truck. The rate fixed was $30 per month, and the business has grown to such an extent and also proven so financially successful as fully to warrant the continuance of the service, and to allow of its expansion into the realm of the pleasure ear. A rate of $35 per month has been fixed for pleasure vehicles_ This includes daily charging, washing and polishing, storage, minor adjustments, oiling of working parts and delivery each morning to the customer's house within a radius of two miles free of charge. In order to carry out this scheme, it was, of course, necessary that the garage should be equipped in such a manner as to reduce the labour question to a minimum, and, when it is realized that one man can take care of the entire work in connection with the charging of 55 machines a night, it will be seen that the labour cost has been reduced to a limit hitherto thought impossible.
The electrical equipment of the electric-service station consists of three motor generator sets—one 80 k.w. Siemens, one 75 k.w. Westinghouse, and one 10 k.w. Eck. No fewer than 17 panel switchboards are arranged on a raised platform, in a special room which contains the whole of the electrical equipment ; these provide for the charging of 55 vehicles at one time. The arrangement of the rheostats is made in such a manner as to give the greatest flexibility. They are not connected directly to the carcharging outlets, but pass through a transfer panel, thus allowing any rheostat to be used in the charging of any car in the building without the necessity of removing the car • from its own stall.
Having made a contract with the owner of a machine for its care, flue company allots a certain stall in the garage to the machine, and gives it a number corresponding with the number painted on the rear wall of the stall, The driver, when returning his machine fo the garage, at the end of the day's work, places the charging plug in position and ends his connection with it until the following morning. A night electrician comes on duty at 7 p.m., connects all the commercial vehicles up to
the switchboards, and commences the operation of charging. In the case of commercial vehicles, this will take until about midnight, when the switch-over to the pleasure cars is made, and charging carried on until every machine in the building is ready for service.
The electrician is supplied with a work ticket on which he has to show a record of all cars that are charged during the night. This record is checked in the office on the following morning, in order to ensure proper care having been given to all storage cars.
An advantage of the system as a whole is the great simplification of the book-keeper's work, as it means simply one entry per month to the customer's debit, and gives no room for complaints as to any over charge. It also allows of the company's being in a position to estimate its returns and expenditure at any time, thereby giving the manager the opportunity to check any proceeding that might lead to wasteful expenditure of time and money in the operation of the garage. A point that must be considered, however, by anyone who is contemplating the adoption of a similar system, is the extremely-low price at. which current can be obtained from the City of Winnipeg's municipal power plant, which is in direct competition with that of the Winnipeg Electric Railway Co., with a consequent battle for the business of Winnipeg's power users. This brings the cost of power down as low as 1 cent per k.w. hour for the heaviest users, with a sliding scale from that point to about 2-1. cents per k.w. hour for the -smallest consumer.
It will strike home more forcibly to the mind of the interested parties, if the fact is borne in mind that the rate for storage only of gasolene cars is $15 per month, whilst washing and polishing daily is charged a further $15 per month. This means that the user of an electric car, in Winnipeg, who adopts the service plan of the electric station, secures the current necessary to run his car for nothing, whilst the owner of a gasolene car still has to pay his fuel and oil bills. There are few parallels to this, but waterpower can easily equal it.