Confusion over Electric Commercial Vehicles

LONDON - A report by the Market Research analysts Frost & Sullivan released last month has cast doubts over the viability of the Greater London Authorities plans to make London the “electric vehicle capital of the World”.

Boris Johnson intends to push forward with plans to see 100,000 electric vehicles on the streets of the city by 2015 and has vowed that there will be 25,000 charging points available to facilitate this by that time. The GLA have also stated that they themselves will invest in 1000 of the vehicles for the municipal fleet.

The Frost & Sullivan report indicates that they believe it will be necessary for each vehicle to have four suitable charging points available in the first year to ensure the scheme can work. Other experts dispute this however. The report makes no mention of drivers only taking relatively short journeys from their home base when fully charged. The GLA will announce in November more detailed plans but for now indicate their intention to base the scheme around three distinct types of “filling station”.

1) Basic – A series of 13amp 240V charge points capable of charging a small vehicle over several hours. A total of around 155 will be installed in London Underground and National Rail car parks and long-stay public car parks. The objective is to have 2000 up and running by 2015

2) Fast - 200 32amp three phase 240 V units sited far and wide throughout the capital, offering the capability to completely recharge a vehicle in half an hour. This would mean one was never more than three miles from a fast charger.

3) Super Fast – Still in the investigation stage it is presumed that battery technology will have progressed enough to completely charge a normal vehicle in just a few minutes, assuming problems with the 500 V supply “cooking” the battery can be avoided.

There will also be other private depots on commercial vehicle routes with facilities available.

Many major companies have made the first moves toward an electric vehicle based service. TNT have over 100 electric vans, operating from more than 20 centres, in the UK at the moment. Sainsbury’s fleet will increase to 62 when orders for 50 more Edison e-vans are filled and DHL plus several others already are assessing the vans’ capabilities.

See the full Frost & Sullivan report here:- www.frost.com/prod/servlet/market-insight-top.pag?Src=RSS&docid=167114253

Boris Johnsons full GLA Electric Vehicle Plan is here:- www.london.gov.uk/mayor/publications/2009/docs/electric-vehicles-plan.pdf  

Main Photo: 1899 Electric Daimler Mail Van (nothing new on God's earth)