petrol/electric hybrid vans - why not?

Rot in Hell "Bandit Bikes" wrote:

there are firms retrofitting such as Ashwoods, Iveco and Chevrolet are
trialling hybrid vans.  Quite a few local authorities have bought retro
fitted hybrids.  I would imagine that van fleet buyers in the comercial
sector are a quite conservative bunch so as to keep their jobs, so
convincing them is the problem.

Mrcheerful wrote:


East midlands electric used to have a fleet of electric vans, from a
ciommercial POV they were expensive to buy and very limited in the use
, you cant just fill them up and go , they are also very heavy so
limits the load carrying capacity, the range is also limited using the
lights and wipers used to reduce the range considerably , it wasnt
uncommon for them to have to be towed in because of a flat battery

steve robinson wrote:

In East London I often used to see electric CF bedfords used by the local
electric company.  There are still a few around with some very enthusiastic
owners.

Mrcheerful wrote:


Thats the one, the fitters used to call them mortgage payers

On Sat, 19 May 2012 10:26:29 +0100, "Mrcheerful"



I've still got my Enfield 8000 'Moke' and had quite a good
relationship with the key tech at the Electricity Council who ran a
fleet of the more traditional saloon versions (looked a bit like a
Mini Clubman) in the City and at various bodies around the country as
part of a feasibility study.

I think they were 'looking good' during a petrol shortage / price hike
but as soon as the petrol price came down again ...  ;-(

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfield_Automotive

http://www.imps4ever.info/specials/enfield/index.html

What I've got (the Moke not the 'lady'). ;-(

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Neorion_Bicini.jpg

8 x 6V 600AH Lead acid monoblocks, wired in 4 x 12V series pairs and
connected to the compound would motor via some solenoid / contactors.
On the flat and cruising at tope speed (30 mph) it draws about 200A.

I chose that over the saloon because:

It was a 4 seater.

It used a flat, windscreen (so easy to replace).

It was easier to get to the batteries than on the saloons.

It was more 'fun'. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

80mph on 8hp? I doubt it.

On Sun, 10 Jun 2012 21:29:05 +0100, Grimly Curmudgeon


To be fair it does say "The top speed of the E8000ECC was 70 mph (113
km/h) to 80 mph (129 km/h), depending on driving conditions.[citation
needed]" ;-)

And what if the 'driving conditions' were 'down a very long hill' .

My Moke version was only ever good for 30 mph with the wind up it's
chuff so ...

Cheers, T i m

Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:

On Fri, 18 May 2012 20:54:06 -0700, Rot in Hell \"Bandit Bikes\" wrote:


Last petrol van I had did around 22mpg. On a good day...

Perhaps you meant diesel/electric?

This might work OK for small vans, but would only have limited
application for larger, Transit-sized vans.

Space is money in a van, and the amount of space that sufficient
batteries for a larger van would need would impact too much on the load
area. The cost would be too high also.

A small van used exclusively in a city, for multi-drop work might be
better as a hybrid, but I doubt it would be a workable solution for
anything else give the present technology limitations.

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

On Sat, 19 May 2012 09:36:49 +0100, Chris Whelan  


And there are a few of those around. I suspect weights a bigger issue than  
space in vans.

On Sat, 19 May 2012 09:58:54 +0100, "Duncan Wood"


Milk floats have been around for a good few years, running pretty
basic / acient lead-acid technology and could carry around 3 tonnes
I'm told (often seem fully loaded around Xmas). ;-)

Cheers, T i m

On Thu, 07 Jun 2012 11:31:21 +0100, T i m wrote:

[...]


...and are great if you need to deliver to a high number of properties in
a densely populated area early in the morning.

They would be pretty crap at anything else that a diesel van does.

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

But being used less and less as delivery points become more spaced apart.
Ideal in the days when every house in a street had milk delivered, though.

--
*He who dies with the most toys is, nonetheless, dead.  

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Horses were better, and if you were lucky you got the manure outside
your house for your garden.
--
Gordon H
Remove "invalid" to reply

On 07/06/2012 16:42, Gordon H wrote:

Do you realise what it costs to run a horse (having three myself)!

A bag of oats in its nose bag, in the case of delivery men, circa 1940s.
:)
I do have an inkling, lady friend's granddaughter has two, one she uses
for gymkhanas and one she had when she was younger, which is a pet now,
she can't bear to part with him..
--
Gordon H
Remove "invalid" to reply

On Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:47:22 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"


Mind you, it looks like we might be going full circle with localised
Internet > grocery / home deliveries?


As we do now again it seems, by electric float (much to my surprise as
well).

Hey, the next bright idea someone will come up with is putting milk in
re-useable glass containers. Then what would we do for material to
make micro fleeces with. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

p.s. One of the biggest 'shock' (excuse the pun) I generally observed
re new passengers in my plug-in EV is the 'engine' coming to a halt
(silent) as the vehicle did (as if it had 'stalled'). The second shock
is when it silently pulls away again without being 'started'. ;-)


p.p.s. My boss also had a shock when we were out in the Moke with it's
top down / sides off, I did a u-turn and nearly lost him out the side!
Hillman Imp front end ...   ;-)