Van News Story - VansA2Z.com

Tuesday, 21 December 2010 04:56 |

Written by Neil McIntee

Ten-year lifespan for latest generation batteries

Smith Electric Vehicles has more battery-powered vans on the road than any other manufacturer. Real-world trials have shown that current lithium-ion phosphate batteries used in its Transit-based Edison should lead a productive operational life of at least 10 years.

“The battery condition reports delivered much more impressive figures than we ever expected, demonstrating far lower levels of battery degradation than even the manufacturer forecast,” commented Kevin Harkin, sales director for Smith Electric Vehicles.

“Our own research, and independent tests that we commissioned, have verified that the battery should still have a minimum of 80 per cent capacity after 3,000 cycles. So even if the vehicle uses a full battery cycle every day for 300 days a year, it will still be 80 per cent efficient after 10 years. For example, a vehicle that had a 100-mile range brand new will still have an 80-mile range, a decade later.”

Battery packs are guaranteed for five years by Smiths, as opposed to the three-year warranty offered previously on its sodium nickel chloride (Zebra) power packs.

Smith has just announced that it is now working in partnership with Clem to introduce its range of electric commercial vehicles to the Spanish market. Access rental company Clem, part of the Riwal group, has more than 25 years’ expertise in EVs and is already a distributor for Garia luxury golf carts, Segway and Taylor-Dunn industrial electric vehicles.

“Over the past three years one of the highest levels of enquiries we have received from any country came from Spain,” said Harkin. “This is an extremely important market to us, so it was vital that we found the right partner. Clem has the national sales infrastructure, but more importantly it also has the technical expertise to provide high quality product support to major fleets.”