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Light Six-wheelers Offer Economies
Page 135
Page 136
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SUPPLY and demand are two of the most powerful factors in determining a vehicle's specification and price. The extent to which one precedes the other is, however, debatable. Whilst a commercial-vehicle manufacturer normally designs and markets a model to meet a particular need, there have also been occasions when new technical developments have themselves created a market which either did not
previously exist, or, if it did, only to a limited extent. ..
Excluding the wide range of popular medium-weight articulated vehicles, it is significant that until recently there has been a heavy line of price demarcation between popular 7-ton oilers —say, in the £1,800 to £2,000 class—and the heavy rigid sixwheelers costing around £4,500.
Wide Divergencies
Whilst obviously no relative comparison can be made between these two types, any haulier who particularly wanted a rigid vehicle with operational characteristics lying mid-way between the two might have difficulty in meeting his needs from the existing limited range. The wide divergencies between the two prices just given arise because many heavy six-wheelers are eight-wheelers scaled down.
Understandably, the wide range of commercial vehicles displayed at the Show bears relation to the proportion of vehicles operated in the various weight groups. Prices, however, do not show a similar relativity, as some samples will indicate. Limiting the analysis to oil;engined vehicles, the , average price for eight representative 5-tormers is £1,500, for 11 7-tonners £2.000, with a jump to around £2,750 for what few medium-weight or converted rigid six-wheelers are available. Seven makes of heavy six-wheeler cost around £4,500.
The traditional methods of construction which have given the British commercial-vehicle industry its present supremacy are exemplified in the heavy sixand .:ight-wheelers. Under the severest conditions they have proved to be ideal for the job. Nevertheless, there would appear to be sufficient demand for a lighter vehicle.
Manufacturers must be a trifle perplexed to find that no sooner has the maximum permitted legal gross weight for a four-wheeler been increased from 12 to 14 tons than operators want a chassis to carry a little more, but still remaining in the medium-price range. In some instances this demand is stemming from the difficulty of restricting the load on one axle to 9 tons within the gross limit of 14 tons.
Although commercial vehicles must be completely reliable, it should be possible to obtain this quality in a rigid six-wheeler built to a more modest standard. In an endeavour to achieve this objective some operators have taken the matter into their own hands by purchasing a popular four-wheeler and adding a third axle, of which several examples are available. It will be interesting to see whether chassis makers will market light six-wheelers on their own account.
I now propose to examine operating costs of the traditional heavy six-wheeled rigid vehicles and compare them with two other types. The first is a converted popular four-wheeler and the second falls midway between this and the " heavy " in both price and performance.
With a cost price of £4,500 the heavy rigid vehicle would probably have an unladen weight of around 61 tons, with an annual licence duty of £105, or 42s. per week. Drivers' wages are estimated at £9 12s. 7d. a week, based on R.H. (64) Grade I for the 10-15-ton category. Rent and rates are nominally assessed at 12s. 6d., whilst vehicle insurance is based on an annual premium of £99, equivalent to £1 19s. 5d. per week. Interest at 3 per cent. on the initial outlay adds £2 14s., making the total weekly standing costs £17 Os. 6d. Assuming an average weekly mileage of 800, standing costs per mile would be 5.11d.
The first of five running costs—fuel—is calculated on an assumed consumption rate of 11 trr.p.g. and a cost per gallon of 3s. 10d., resulting in a fuel cost per mile of 4.18d. Lubricants are reckoned to cost 0.28d. per' mile.
High Tyre Costs
Tyres on a multi-wheeled vehicle* must inevitably be an expensive item and in this instance a set is reckoned to cost £514, which, on an estimated life of 30,000 miles, gives a tyre cost per mile of 4.32d. Maintenance is assessed at 2.28d per mile. Depreciation is reckoned to cost 3.34d. per mile on the assumption of a vehicle life of 250,000 miles.
The total running cost per mile thus amounts to 14.4d., which, when added to standing costs, gives a total operating cost per mile of 19.51d. The total operating cost for an 800-mile week is £65 Os. 8d.
Turning now to the lightest of the three vehicles, it is assumed to cost £2,750. This is based on the price of a 7-ton oiler of around £2,000, with the balance to allow for a thireaxle conversion. With both chassis and platform body extended, the unladen weight is estimated to be 4+ tons, givirm a weekly licence cost of £1 4s. Wages are calculated as before at £9 12s. 7d.
Rent and rates will be assumed to remain the same at 12s. 6d per week, whilst the amount of insurance payable will be slightly less at £90 a year, or £1 16s, per week. This is because the premium is calculated on both the initial cost price of the vehicle as well as its carrying capacity. Because of the lower first cost, the interest charge will also be reduced to £1 13s. Total operating costs per week will thus be £14 18s. Id.,
or 4.47d. Der mile when 800 miles per week are averaged.•Assuming a consumption rate of '14 m.p.g., fuel costs. per
mile will be 3.29d., whilst lubricants will be assessed fractionally. lower at 0.25d. per mile. With a set of tyres costing £400, the tyre cost per mile will be 3.20d. Maintenance is estimated to remain the same at 2.28d. per mile, it being arbitrarily assumed that a possible increased rate of replacement will be balanced out by a lower average cost of spares or units.
In fairness to the more heavily built vehicles it will be assumed that the life of the converted four-wheeler is 150,000 miles Deducting the cost of the set of tyres from the initial price of the vehicle, together with an estimated residual value of 124 per cent, a balance of approximately £2,000 remains to be depreciated at a cost of 3.20d. per mile.
Total running costs per mile are thus 12.22d., giving a total operating cost per mile of 16169d. The cost of running 800 miles per week will be £55 12s. 8d.
Finally, let us consider the operating costs of a six-wheeled rigid vehicle with an initial cost price lying exactly midway between the two previous examples-£3,500. With an unladen weight of 51 tons, the cost of the annual duty would be £80,
or 12s. per week. Wages, as before, would be £9 12s. 7d., which, incidentally, in all three examples includes allowances for National Insurance and employers -voluntary liability insurance contributions and holiday with pay.
Rent and rates remain at 12s. 6d. per week, whilst the annual insurance premium is £94, or £1 17s. 7d. per week. Interest at 3 per cent on the initial outlay adds £2 2s., making the total weekly standing cost £15 16s. 8d. When 800 miles per week are operated, this would amount to 4.75d. per mile. With a consumption rate of 12.5 m.p.g. and a cost of 3s. 10d. per gallon, fuel costs per mile would be 168d. Lubricants are assessed at 0.27d. Assuming tyres to cost £500 per set and the mileage life to be 30,000, the cost per mile will be 4d. Maintenance is estimated to be unchanged at 2.28d., whilst depreciation is calculated on a vehicle mileage life of 175,000, or midway between the two other examples. By the same formula as before this gives a depreciation cost per mile of 3.10d. Total running costs are therefore 13.10d. per mile, which, when added to the standing cost of 4.75d. per mile, gives a total operating cost per mile of 17.85d., or £59 10s. for the week.
To assess the comparative operating costs relative to the payload of the three vehicles it would be necessary to make an arbitrary assumption as to the respective loads that three hypothetical operators would he likely to carry. These will be assessed at 13, 12 and 11 tons respectively. With corresponding total weekly operating Costs of £65 12s. 8d., £59 10s. and £55 12s. 8d. for an 800-mile week, a notional average weekly cost per ton of £5 for the heavy vehicle, £4 19s. 2d. for the mediumweight vehicle and £5 Is. 2d. for the lighter vehicle is obtained. In effect, all three 'within narrow limits give the same costs.
Where only 11 tons was carried in each case, the weekly cost per ton would become £5 I8s. for the heavy six-wheeler and £5 8s. 2d. for the mediumweight vehicle, whilst remaining at £5 is. 2d. for the third vehicle. Whilst the calculations are arbitrary, they do emphasize the cost of operating a vehicle. larger than is necessarY, however excellent its inherent construction might be. The additions recently made to this particular range of goods vehicle should now enable operators to match vehicles to the job more economically. S.B.