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T r Ria 6064
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Electrics—a wider use or a bleak future?
by Paul Brockington, MIMechE
DOORSTEP deliveries of milk (and bread) may well be a thing of the past within 10 to 15 years in the majority of areas in this country if marketing trends in some centres in the UK and more definable trends in America and on the Continent can be taken as a guideline.
In the event, householders will have to purchase their milk in disposable containers from a supermarket or local store, unless possibly they pay a premium price for it. And dairy companies will be relieved of the costly necessity of making multiple calls at domestic premises on a routine daily basis to deposit small quantities of milk in containers that have to be returned to the dairy for washing.
Would this be the death-knell of the electric vehicle as a major contributor to the well-being of the community and as a highly useful tool of the transport industry?
It has been said that upwards of 80 per cent of electric vehicles on the road are used for milk distribution. The electric has served the dairyman outstandingly well over the years. Could it survive the spread of shop trading for marketing domestic milk and the consequent curtailment of door-todoor deliveries? And to what extent could its use be extended in other types of service and new applications be found for it that would be economically viable?
The spread of shop trading in domestic milk was forecast (as a personal opinion) by Mr John Horlick, general manager of the retail division of Horlicks Farms and Dairies Ltd, at the company's largest retail distribution depot in Weston-super-Mare during a discussion with CM on the scope of the electric. Of the company's fleet of 127 delivery vehicles, 121 are electrics, and if it were not for the economies they provide, the "prohibitive cost" of distributing domestic milk might well put the company out of business. The four remaining distribution depots are located in Clevedon, Taunton, Burnham-on-Sea and Minehead areas, and there are sub-depots at Clevedon and Glastonbury, all of which are supplied with bottled milk in crates transported on articulated vehicles and loaded by fork-lift truck.
Up to 3 tons In Mr Horlick's view, the advantages of the electric are such that it could be employed far more extensively on many other types of service. He points out that electric vehicles are available that can carry payloads of up to 3 tons over a route of 30 miles (with many stops) at speeds of up to 20 mph, and that this is indicative of their range of usefulness. If the performance required is covered by this range, then employing an electric should pay off. Operating an oversize vehicle equipped with a high-capacity battery could be economic in some applications despite the high cost of the battery and considerably reduced payload. The very high maintenance costs of non-electric vehicles is the main deterrent to their use, cited by Mr Horlick, notably the cost of transmission maintenance. A petrol-engined vehicle is replaced after three years and an electric is depreciated over 10 years, a number of electrics in the fleet being 20 years old. Current costs are nominal (the petrol-engined vehicles average 14 mpg) and while batteries have a guaranteed life of four years they often operate for a considerably longer period in service, Despite the vehicles' low speed, route times compare favourably with those of a non-electric apart from runs in rural areas that include relatively long distances without stops. Petrol-engined vehicles are equipped with Borg Warner automatic gearboxes as a means of reducing transmission maintenance.
The particular case may be cited of a run in the Clevedon area, in which the doorstep delivery zone is about six miles from the depot. For about 12 miles out of a total of 20/22 miles the vehicle is operating non-stop at around 15 mph, about 200 stops being made in the 8 /10-mile delivery section. It is more economical to run an electric on this route than a petrol-engined equivalent. And overall route time is reduced despite time lost on the non-stop section. As has been proved by all operators of electrics on stop-start work, ease of vehicle handling and the cab access facility provided are advantages that materially reduce the time and effort required at each stop.
Typically, a town round covers about eight miles and involves about 530 calls and after the run the battery is about 50 per cent discharged. At the other end of the scale, the distance covered on a rural round representing the "extreme case" in which employing an electric is justified is around 30 miles, while the number of calls is 350.
Size of battery Following the normal custom, detailed surveys are made, of a route on which a new type of vehicle is to be used, by a technical representative of the vehicle maker acting in conjunction with a company driver to determine the minimum size of battery that will cater for the range, load and traffic variations, number of stops and so on that are typical of the run.
Employing the smallest battery that enables a route to be covered according to schedule (with about 10 per cent spare capacity) compared with a battery of excess capacity saves weight (and cost) and the weight saved increases the useful range or payload of the vehicle. So the benefits are cumulative.
The majority of the Horlicks fleet comprises standard W and E I-Type and Range master three-wheelers and Crompton Leyland, Morrison Electricar four-wheelers with payload capacities in each case of up to 30cwt. Battery capacities vary between 22 cells and 36 cells according to route and payload, one I-Type being equipped with a special 32crate body and twin-rear wheels, the battery being a 22-cell type. A small number of Smith's and Harbilt vehicles is also employed.
Each vehicle is allocated a charging bay and the charge rate complies with the maker's recommendation for the size of battery in use and the service it provides. This obviates repeated adjustment of the rate to cater for changes of vehicle that would otherwise be necessary, which is regarded as an important safeguard against faulty charging.
While the use of lightweight non-returnable (disposable) milk packs or bags in one form or another is mainly restricted to shop trading, the practice could spread to vehicle-delivered milk. And this would enable a higher useful payload to be carried, reduce the average loading of the vehicle and eliminate the need to return bottles to the dairy for washing. Milk in liquid form for domestic consumption is currently at the top end of the price range but, in Mr. Horlick's view, the price of milk supplied to food manufacturers could rise to the same level if the UK joined the Common Market. And the pattern of distribution could be changed.
Battery life In other-than-milk types of service, a vehicle may well be engaged on a battery-depletion run occupying half a normal working day and the vehicle immobilized until the battery has been recharged. Fast charging in five hours in place of the normal 8/12 hours reduces the normal guaranteed life of the battery from four to three years and typically would not afford increased utilization. Although an 80 per cent discharged battery can be boost-charged by up to 20/25 per cent in 1 /1-1-hr (for example in the lunch hour) this would not normally extend the useful range of the vehicle. In the view of some potential users of electric vehicles, it's a case of "double or nothing" and "double" is out of the question because the battery cannot be recharged in time for a second run.
In line with his earlier comments, Mr Horlick believes that lack of appreciation on the part of operators of the outstanding long-term merits of the electric and their failure to evaluate the gains that could be derived from employing an oversized long-range vehicle equipped with a high-capacity battery that would operate for a "double period", albeit with a reduced payload, have been unnecessarily prejudicial to expanding the scope of the electric. And undoubtedly the initial hostility to an electric of a driver who has been accustomed to driving a petrolor diesel-engined vehicle at higher road speeds (some drivers say the quietness of an electric gets on their nerves) can influence the operator against adding additional electrics to his fleet.
The comment by a particular operator, "if the driver doesn't like it, it's out" is symptomatic of the difficulty of selling the electric to the unconverted. But this operator is now a convert. He reports that after an "acclimatization period" of three months the driver develops an appreciation of the personal advantages of the electric, including the elimination of clutch operation, gear changing, noise and bodywork vibration, not to mention fumes, and of the reduced mental and physical strain of a day's work. He is also relieved of the .responsibility of checking the oil and water levels of the power unit.
Criticisms The same operator criticizes electrics on a number of counts, including lack of draught proofing and of adequate cab heating. He considers that a heater of 11 kW /hr is desirable but states its use would reduce the range of the vehicle by up to 25 per cent because of the additional drain on the battery. Consideration should be given, in his opinion, to the development of a storage type of heater that could be charged overnight from the mains. Whether or not such a heater would be acceptable would depend on the payload penalty involved and its cost.
A number of potential operators of electrics on other-than-milk services will take,careful note of the findings of a costing exercise that the Post Office will undertake in due course. A battery electric was first used experimentally by the Post Office in 1902 and further tests of electric vans were carried out in 1928/1934, in 1938 and in 1941/1942.
The acquisition in 1967 of a standard Crompton Leyland Morrison Electricar for postal work in Leicester was the first step in the latest pilot scheme to evaluate the potential of the battery electric for selected postal routes. It was followed over the period December 1969 to August 1970 by the commissioning of five additional Crompton Leyland vans and of five Smith's vans having bulk and payload capacities' of 240 Cu ft and 30cwt respectively. The vans are operating on parcels services in 10 areas that provide contrasting variations of terrain, traffic density and so on. The vans are part of a fleet of 22.000 vehicles engaged on postal work, the total fleet comprising about 59,000 vehicles.
It is notable that some of the Horlicks vehicles also distribute bread for an independent bakery company. And looking into the future with this combined operation in mind poses the possibility that a service could profitably be provided that catered for a variety of distributive requirements involving daily or regular door-to door deliveries. It has even been suggested that the milkman should deliver the post In Mr Horlick's opinion this would not be practical, partly because the handling of registered mail might create insuperable
difficulties and because postal deliveries are irregular compared with milk deliveries. But regularized shopping habits could create new opportunities for doorstep deliveries on a contract basis. And in the event the electric will undoubtedly play an important part in the scheme of things.
As a footnote it is pertinent to quote the common plea of the makers of electric vehicles that operators of i.e.-engined vehicles who acquire one or more electrics for experimental purposes "get their sums wrong" in assessing their advantages, in some eases because they run the vehicles on non-selected routes in haphazard association with non-clectrics. Getting the sums right may, in part. depend on having enough money in the bank to start with, but that's the way of things these days.