The Future of the Battery-electric
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
rIERTAIN remarks which we have Made recently concerning the position of batteryelectrie vehicles, and which were included more as expressions of sympathy for that section of the vehicle-manufacturing industry than for any other reason, have aroused comment from an association of constructors of this type of machine.
It appears that the industry is actually receiving certain supplies bf steel and other important materials, which will undoubtedly assist in providing limited deliveries of new electric vehicles to operators who can stake legitimate claims, and it is stated that the actual supply in the coming year will be greater than that lkhich has been rendered available this year, despite the fact that most of the concerns connected with this industry are, to a great extent, engaged in other classes of work.
We certainly welcome this news. "The Commercial Motor" has always been in the forefront in advocating the employment of a type of vehicle which is peculiarly fitted to deal with those classes of transport which involve a reasonable radius of delivery with a large number of stops. Apart from this, there is the vitally important fact that such vehicles utilize indigenous fuel. In fact, we have been shrprised that, in the past years, so few important advances have been made.
The war has provided it with an opportunity which is limited only by the capacity for production. Many well-known concerns already employ battery-electric vehicles, some have done so over a long period of years, but the demand has not„been so important as to enable the makers to get down to the task of producing on a competitive basis, for production in :small quantities cannot be expected to compete tvith manufacture in terms of thousands. As a result of this, the capital outlay involved in the purchase Of such vehicles has been somewhat higher than would otherwise have been the case.
One of. the difficulties has been the problem of convincing potential purchasers that the battery should be considered in -relation to the cost of power—in other words, not entirely as a part of the vehicle. The average battery-electric, withouLits battery, is, or certainly should be, of simple deffgn and ,reasonably cheap to produce. It is the battery which, hitherto, has been the fly in the ointment, but with schemes of battery replacement and spread-over cost this difficulty is likel) to be obviated.
That some important concerns are interested in the subject appears from such pointers as the big merger which is now being arranged between one of our largest electrical manufacturers and certain battery and battery-vehicle interests.