Lucas's electrical operation monitor
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THE FIRST garage in Europe and possibly in the world designed expressly to service electric vehicles has been opene by Lucas at its Acton, West London Depot.
Known as the Lucas Electric Vehicle Service Unit, it will handle the new generation of high performance electric road vehicles on three-year trial with the Greater London Council.
More than 25 of the vehicles are taking part in this trial. Performance under normal service operation is being evaluated, as well as the development of further capabilities in the light of everyday experience.
It was essential to establish a locally based facility to provide service support as well as carry out the evaluation programme.
The Electric Vehicle Service Unit is next to a Lucas garage which has serviced conventional vehicle electrical systems for many years. It is divided into two sections — a vehicle servicing area capable of handling up to three vehicles at a time and a battery test room for monitoring the performance and durability of batteries in service.
Facilities
It will also have use of the ,facilities of the traditional service garage such as a rolling road and vehicle hoists. The five battery test stands are specially constructed to contain a complete vehicle battery pack which comprises 36 six-volt lightweight lead-acid battery units. Each test stand is covered by a high volume extraction hood.
Under the test programme, every two or three months complete battery packs which have been in use in the vehicle will be transferred to test stand, where they will undergo a number of charge/discharge cycles under strictly controlled conditions.
Individual battery units wil be voltage monitored at specified intervals by a data logging system which provides an output to a teleprinter.
The service unit is staffed by four electric vehicle technicians, who have a support van available which they use to visit operators' premises for routine battery maintenance and to check or vehicle systems and performance.
Mobile workshop
The support van is a fully equipped mobile workshop and carries a new portable exchange unit. Based on the hovercraft air cushion principle, this special unit ensures that batteries can be quickly removed for servicim or exchanged.
The component stores, apart from holding the usual workshop hand tools and garage equipment, also contain such spares as contrc systems, axles, motors, choppers, heaters, fans and chargers.
No attempt will be made at this stage to repair faulty components and systems as defects arise, but only to substitute complete units and return the affected items to the Lucas Electric Vehicle headquarters in Birmingham for thorough examination. This will allow the vehicle to be kept on the road, minimising downtime during the evaluation period.