Pointers on Electric-vehicleCosts
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i HAVE read with interest the article headed " The 'Electric as a Haulier's Vehicle," by your contributor, S.T.F. in the issue of "The Commercial Motor '' dated August 17. There are, however, one or two points which appear to rue to do less than justice to the electric vehicle.
The article refers to criticism, made by a firm using electric vehicles, of the claims which manufacturers make for the low cost of maintenance of the electric vehicle. It seems, however, peculiar that such items as crownwheel-and-pinime, and axle-shaft breakages should he referred to under :the heading of maintenance. I believe that these breakages occur frequently with petrol commercial vehicles, and are certainly not confined to the electric. Furthermore, breakdowns of_ this nature can usually be traced to careless driving, overloading, ete.
A threeyears' proportional guarantee is given with all traction batteries, and therefore the purchaser of •an electric vehicle is buying a guaranteed threeyears' supply of " fuel."All our claims on the score of cheaper operating costs inthe case of electrice are • based on the assumption that the• battery has a life of three years. Frequently, however, operators, by careful treatment of the battery, obtain an extended useful life.
I am generally in agreement with the observations made in regard to running costs, and it is of interest to note that our own published figuresshow a very similar result to that given by your contributor, although I do not agree entirely with your contributor's method ,of dealing with individual items. .Current practice in dealing with running costs is, in my opinion, similar to the manner in which our comparative tables are set out. Also, I cannot understand why, if a true comparison of operating costs be required, approximate present-day prices arc shown when up-to-date manufacturers' prices of vehicles are available.
Finally, I cannot agree that a claim is frequently
made that " an electric vehicle can be run. for 6d, per day." Certainly no reputable vehicle manufacturer has made such a claim during recent years.
E. G. RUTTER, London, W.C.2. . Vehicle Division (for Crompton Parkinson, Ltd.).
[Any essential repairs resulting from wear and tear, i.e., other .than from accident, are included under the heading of maintenance: crown-wheel-and-pinion and axleshaft breakages would_corne' under that heading. It is of course, well known that such breakages do occur with 'petrol vehicles: _What I am trying to do is to rebut the claim; so very frequently put forward by makers of electric vehicles, that the maintenance of these vehicles comprises nothing more than oiling and greasing—that.
• mechanical failures are unknown. I state quite plainly, in the article, that these special failures are usually due to had driving, a factor which no operator of motor vehicles of any description can afford to ignore. In the article • provision is made for the life of the battery to be three years, and in that I am in agreement with Mr. Rutter. As regards the arrangement of the individual items, this I have found to be the practice of several makers of electric vehicles and many users: furthermore, taking into, consideration_ all the facts, the method described seems to me to be the most satisfactory way of dealing with the problem As regards the claim that an electric 'vehicle can be run for 6d. per day, this has frequently been made. Time and again, at meetings of haulage contractors, the question has cropped up and I have been asked if it be true, as has. been stated by representatives of electric-vehicle makers, that the operating cost of such a vehicle is 6d, per day, and I have had, of course, -emphatically to refute any such statement. Moreover, -,I remember seeing a paragraph in one manufacturer's literature with a heading something like " A vehicle for 6d. per day." Whilst it is true that on careful reading it became clear that the 6d, per clay Was only for cost of current, the impression given to, the casual reader WaS that a claim was being made that an electric vehicle could be run for OLT: a day.—S.T.R.1