Boosting the Battery Vehicle.
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The writer decided, a few weeks ago, hy reason of unexpected expressions of opinion that his membership of the Electric Vehicle Committee of the Incorporated Municipal Electrical Association of necessity pledged him to support the battery vehicle, to tender his resignation from that Committee.
An Editor of a journal like THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR cannot accept any position, either honorary or paid, i which n any way interferes with his complete independence in dealing with current topics or the claims of rival systems. As we wrote in our footnote to a letter from a representative of the Edison interests in this country, immediately on receipt of that letter: "If the position of the Editor of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR on the Electric Vehicle Committee be supposed in any way to make him partial to the battery vehicle, in the same sense that Mr. Watson is partial, or in the sense that, as he admits, the central-station man is partial, he will be pleased to resign front it."
A Tendered Resignation.
In the course of the letter in which the writer tendered his resignation, some three weeks ago, he expressed surprise that any members of the Electric Vehicle Committee e.hould, apparently in common with the pro-electric Press, hold the view that the Editor of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR was necessarily to refrain from criticism. The opportunity was therefore given to members of the Electric Vehicle Committee to decide the matter for themselves, and the writer abstained from attending its April meeting, in order that his relations with the Committee might be discussed with perfect freedom and not in any atmosphere of restraint.
The writer's letter of resignation pioceeded: "I should never have thought of allowing myself to be nominated a member of your Committee, had I for one moment anticipated that membership involved me in euppression of comment., or obiigathry partisanship. As the representative of the C.M.U.A. on the Electric Vehicle Committee, I have so far heard nothing very convincing from the user's point of view ; the chief topic appears to be the securing of additional load for i he central stations. No figures or records have been adduced or submitted to support the claim of lower costs per vehicle-mile for the battery vehicle. That is the topic of interest to users, and I hope it will be taken up officially. As Editor of THY. COMMERCIAL MOTOR, I shall in any event continue to hold my columns open to the advocates of every class or power for motor-transport purposes."
The Decision of the Electric Vehicle Committee.
The writer's letter of resignation was submitted to the Electric Vehicle Committee on Friday, the 24th tilt., and the following letter was subsequently received:— " Dear Mr. Shrapnel-Smith,
"I submitted to the Committee on Friday your letter, wherein you formally tender your resignation of membership. They desire me to write ard say that they earnestly hope you will reconsider your decision, and withdraw your resignation. They wish me to add that they are not responsible for the.criticisms of your attitude to which you refer, and they consider that it would be distinctly against the interests of the electric vehicle movement to seek in any way to evade or stifle rational criticism ; in fact, they welcome the fullest criticism, believing that in that direction lies the surest method of bringing out all the good points and advantages of the electric,' about the future success of which they have no doubt. . "I hope that we may still continue to have the advantage of your experience in motor transport, and of your valuable co-operation.
"Believe me, with kind regards, to be, "Very truly yours,
"(Signed) F. AYTON, "Hon. Secretary."
The Editor's Presence as an Investigator Only.
The writer had then to decide if he would go back to the Committee, and also whether the situation had or had not been sufficiently cleared. He therefore wrote tile following letter on the 29th April
Dear Mr. Ayton,
" Before I decide in the matter of the Electric Vehicle Committee, I should like to he quite sure that you have been authorized by that Committee to give an assurance that membership of it is not in any way supposed to hamper or tie me in respect of criticism or comment in THE COMMF.RCIAL MOTOR or elsewhere. Icannot belong to a committee, and especially so a committee on which I may on certain occasions be in the minority, if there is any such implication. As you. know, I am practically the only non-electrical man on the Committee, as the nominee of the C.M.U.A.' and I desire, both individually and as the representative of the C.M.U.A., to feel that I am entitled to he present on the Committee in the capacity of an investigator, rather than as one who is pledged to push the electric vehicle. I am not and cannotbe se pledged, although quite ready to be converted to the beliefs of others who constitute its membership.
"I can assure you that I have sufficient calls upon my time not to be in the least anxious to return to the Committee, were it not for the fact that the reasons which originally prompted the C.M.U.A. to nominate me, and me to accept the nomination, hold good. I refer to the desire to keep ourselves informed of efforts and progress in battery-vehicle matters, and above all concerning certified performances— rather than mere estimates by salesmen_
"I have to present areport to the C.M.U.A. Committee, in regard to how far matters have progressed to date, at its meeting on the 6th prox.
" Yours faithfully, "(Signed) E. S. SHRAPNELL-SMITH."
A Guarantee of Freedom.
The above brought a letter from Mr. Ayton in the following terms, and these were most carefully considered, not only by Mr. Dangerfield, but also by the principal officers of the C.M.U.A. " Dear Me. Shrapnell-Smith,
"I have received your letter af lie 29th inst., and quite understand your position in this matter. I am perfectly certain from what was said at the last meetlug of the Committee, that no one expects you to be in any way hampered or tied in respect of criticism or comment in THE COMMERCIAL Moran OV elsewhere, in connection with the electric vehicle, Although there is no time between now and the 6th prox. to consult the Committee, I will take full responsibility on my shoulders for assuring you that membership of the • Committee is not in any way to hamper or tie you in respect of criticism of the electric vehicle. I believe that fair criticism will be a means of helping the movement in the end, rather than in any way hampering it. I sincerely hope, therefore, that we inay still continue to have the benefit of your valuable advice on the Committee.
"I am perfectly certain that, in a short while, we shall be able to convince you of the justness of the claims put forth for this method of transport, and your presence on the Committee will certainly act as a stimulus to the purely-electrical members to take the proper and active steps to substantiate these claims.
" Yours very truly, "(Signed) F, AYTON, "Hon. Secretary." This reiteration of the official view of the Electric Vehicle Committee appeared to the writer to be quite satisfactory, and to remove all occasion for his withholding from further participation in the propaganda work of the Committee. he accordingly returned an intimation to that effect., and he will now continue in a position which should yield first-hand information, and at the same time allow free scope for criticism.
The Present Position.
TEE COMMERCIAL MOTOR cannot, of course, in fairness to other claims upon its pages, make provision to devote more than a certain amount of space each week to battery-vehicle matters, but we certainly intend to incline in the direction of generosity. Articles in which the claims of battery vehicles have been treated are no new feature in THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR: we have been at pains, over a term of years, to get, information about them. although, we reluctantly confess, without any very favourable results so far.
The writer has been criticised in regard to Editorial references in THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR to the two points of salesmanship assistance by central-station men, and the risk of failure of current supply to battery-vehicle owners during periads of industrial unrest. It is quite true that he did not raise these points in the discussion at the Institution of Electrical Engineers, on the evening of the 19th March, but that was because they had not at that time occurred to him. Even had they entered his mind earlier, the time placed at his disposal for speaking was inevitably so short that he might not have been able to include them in his remarks.
The situation now is this, so far as this journal is -concerned, We await specific information with regard to the working costs per vehicle-mile, based upon data and performances which concern a period of years, for different types of battery vehicles. We may remark, in conclusion, that our own fears in respect of the effects of labour unrest upon centralstation output will not be entirely removed by any statistics in respect of the extent of usual stocks of coal. Any central station is a nerve centre for the attention of labour leaders, and eapecially so when miners, railway men and other transport workers are being drawn closer together in organization. We hold these views very strongly, but, we repeat, our pages are open to every argument that it may be sought to advance or establish against them. The matter is by no means owe of mere opinion. Facts are on record which show the risk to be one that nobody can afford to ignore.
Scope for the Battery Vehicle.
We. again wish to state our very considerable belief in the future of the battery vehicle for city deliveries On journeys of definite length, or on journeys in which the necessary variations of routes and calls are not of greater extent than, say, 15 per cent. For country rounds, where the influences of soft roads and wind resistance upon the consumption of electrical energy may cut the catalogued mileage of any vehicle down by 50 per cent, or more, we believe that, pending the perfection of co-operative methods between centralstation men and vendors of petrol vehicles, users will do well to depend upon vehicles which permit the surmounting of the common obstacles to which we refer by the consumption of a little more petrol or a, little more coal, both of which will be in hand at the time, or readily obtainable as au ordinary roadside supply that can be handed out at a moment's notice. The case of the larger user, with his own generating plant, is one which may play a more important part, in the future than has been foreseen. His class is a self-contained one, and it should be a numerous one.
Mineral or Vegetable Fuel ?
Interest in home-produced motor spirit, from cannel, shale and creosote, is about to become more widespread. The writer was one of the original sup porters of the claims of a cheap and relatively-waste home-produced hydrocarbon oil, in which class creo sote falls, a.s a promising raw material for the pre paration of home-produced motor spirit, and he shared with others the temporary disappointment winch resulted from unavoidable delays in connection with the effective processes by which creosote can be cracked on a commercial scale.
Two considered articles on this subject of mineral fuel appeared in THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR in the fall
of W13: the first of these, in the issue for the 7th August, was under the same title as the one with which we head this short article ; the second, in the issue for the 23rd October, was entitled " Available Supplies of Creosote."
Numerous attempts were made, last year and early this year, to discredit the claims of cannel, shale and creosote, and most of all to throw obloquy upon every body who was a believer in the possibilities of sue: cess fully cracking creosote oil. The production of that waste oil in the United Kingdom is actually at the rate of 60,000,000 gallons per annum, but it is capable of extension, if recovery ovens be substituted
for beehive ovens in every case, to about 90,000,000 gallons per annum, on the basis of production during 1912, Much of the present demand will cease on small increases in the market price ; alternatives are available, as we explained six months ago.
We quote elsewhere in this issue (page 224) from last week's issue of our contemporary "The Motor,' in respect of one of several developments which are now being made public. Progress with other far reaching developments will shortly be made public, and particularly in reference to the Del Monte and the Tarless Fuels processes. We have to be content, for the time being, with only the briefest of refereacee to them.
The important point that emerges is this alternative sources af supply of motor spirit are being proved to exist in the home country, and to be capable of providing both immediate and increasing yields for consumption in engines as we know them. Owners and prospective owners will therefore do well not to allcw themselves to be disturbed in their intentions by alarmist rumours concerning likely shortages of
motor spirit ; they should also discount the somewhah. wild assertions of those who, for their own inscrut
able reasons, are crying down benzene .derivatives and trying to make out a case for alcohol and new types of engines to consume it—when it comes, if ever,