By H. Scott Hall, M .I.M ech.E., M.I.R.T.E.
Page 51
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"The Commercial Motor Costs Consultant
I have gathered from another source that, it is customary to regard refuse collectors as having a 10-year life. On that basis, if I assume that the average difference in price between a petrol-engined refuse collector and one equipped with an oil engine is E400, the extra cost is £40 a year.
If I now set the, savings in fuel cost against that amount, it will be possible to indicate the minimum annual mileage at which the savings in fuel,cost equal or exceed the extra expenditure. Also, it is possible to discriver the critical annual mileage below which it would not pay to operate an oiler, but above which it certainly does.
Forty pounds equals 9,600d.) The saving per mile, as shown above, is 5.892d., and the critical mileage is therefore 9,600 divided by 5.892d. The answer is 1,630 miles a year, or 35 miles per week. The position as regards other annual mileages is shown in the table given below, which covers mileages from 500 to 7,000 per annum.