Are we being forced to go electric?

[cougie uk]

@cougie uk

Green Lane Park & Ride Update.

Cycled past today, circa 3.30.

Six cars parked in the normal bays, two in the electric charging bays although neither of them were plugged in.

Small shuttle bus waiting to ferry people so it appears some people are using the Park And Ride.

However as an EV owner you can educate me here.

Let's say Dave parks his EV there at 8.00 a.m. plugs in and gets the shuttle bus to work.

Does he then have to come back an hour or so later and unplug it?

Good question.
As far as I can see those chargers aren't on any map that I can see so not sure how fast they are.

If they have been sensible at least a few should be slow chargers - cheaper to buy and a full shift should fill up any car. I'll have a nosey next time I go past.

 

[icowden]

However as an EV owner you can educate me here.
Let's say Dave parks his EV there at 8.00 a.m. plugs in and gets the shuttle bus to work.
Does he then have to come back an hour or so later and unplug it?

I think it depends on who owns the EV charger and what their administration rules are. Some chargers limit the number of hours that you can be there and charge you penalties for overstaying. I'd imaging as this is a park and ride, you are permitted to stay on charge all day.

 

[icowden]

Different brand/model of van?

1200 eSprinters and 600 longer range eVitos. This suggests to me that they know that the mileage that a delivery van does is often quite small, with the longest part of the journey being from the depot to the residential area they are servicing.

For example there are two Amazon warehouses within 10 miles drive of my house. So 20 miles to get to/ from my area and the rest is driving 200 yards, then deliver around an area of 10 square km max. So for Urban and Suburban delivery they are ideal and probably far more cost effective than constantly starting and stopping a diesel engine.

 

[CXRAndy]

The eVito has a decent range.
https://ev-database.uk/car/1615/Mercedes-eVito-Tourer-L2-90-kWh

The e Vito van is OK too, the Sprinter has the shortest range. So the use and allocation within a delivery company needs to be resourced carefully. https://www.mercedes-benz.co.uk/vans/en/electric-vans

A van for each job

 

[icowden]

The eVito has a decent range.
https://ev-database.uk/car/1615/Mercedes-eVito-Tourer-L2-90-kWh

The e Vito van is OK too, the Sprinter has the shortest range. So the use and allocation within a delivery company needs to be resourced carefully. https://www.mercedes-benz.co.uk/vans/en/electric-vans

A van for each job

Indeed. A good example would be where my mum is in Worcester which is very rural. The local warehouse is in Redditch about 20 miles away but distances between villages can be 2 or 3 miles. A sprinter probably isn't going to have enough range to do very much. The eVito on the other hand has enough to roam the worcestershire countryside and get back to base.

 

[DRM]

So why would Amazon of all people buy 1800 electric vans if they're hopeless ? I'm sure they've trialled first and found them suitable for their needs.

I think you’ll find Amazon haven’t bought anything, the courier company contracted to deliver for Amazon have ordered them, now Amazon are opening huge warehouses all over Britain, I’ve seen personally in Yorkshire and the North East there are 2 in Leeds, 1 at Bowburn, Co Durham, Darlington, Doncaster, along with others strategically built to service large conurbations so they don’t travel that far, and the amount of load weight wise isn’t going to be huge, whereas the couriers that will turn up at the drop of a hat and take that pallet of goods from one place to another won’t touch these with a barge pole, the range and load capacity is just nowhere near good enough

 

[cougie uk]

I think you’ll find Amazon haven’t bought anything, the courier company contracted to deliver for Amazon have ordered them, now Amazon are opening huge warehouses all over Britain, I’ve seen personally in Yorkshire and the North East there are 2 in Leeds, 1 at Bowburn, Co Durham, Darlington, Doncaster, along with others strategically built to service large conurbations so they don’t travel that far, and the amount of load weight wise isn’t going to be huge, whereas the couriers that will turn up at the drop of a hat and take that pallet of goods from one place to another won’t touch these with a barge pole, the range and load capacity is just nowhere near good enough

Hence why I said they're suitable for their needs.

Great that there's 1800 less diesels being bought eh ?

 

[DRM]

The eVito has a decent range.
https://ev-database.uk/car/1615/Mercedes-eVito-Tourer-L2-90-kWh

The e Vito van is OK too, the Sprinter has the shortest range. So the use and allocation within a delivery company needs to be resourced carefully. https://www.mercedes-benz.co.uk/vans/en/electric-vans

A van for each job

E-Vito can only carry 807 kg, and will go for 162 miles, real world probably 120 miles, in contrast the comparable sized Toyota Proace with a Diesel engine will carry 1400 kg, and with a 69 litre tank will go 600 miles, it seems the E-Proace can carry 1200 kg and has a max range of 205 miles, real world I should think will be about 160, how Mercedes can make vans like that is beyond me.

 

[DRM]

Hence why I said they're suitable for their needs.

Great that there's 1800 less diesels being bought eh ?

Not really when they after the lease is up they can’t sell them on due to the lack of range, so they end up getting crushed, seem to be very environmentally unfriendly in comparison

 

[Alex321]

Not really when they after the lease is up they can’t sell them on due to the lack of range, so they end up getting crushed, seem to be very environmentally unfriendly in comparison

Why do you think they won't be able to sell them?

There are MANY vans of that sort of size out there which very rarely, if ever, need more range than that in a day.

 

[DRM]

Why do you think they won't be able to sell them?

There are MANY vans of that sort of size out there which very rarely, if ever, need more range than that in a day.

By the time the drivers have done with them, there won’t be a straight panel left, plus Sprinters dissolve into rust quite rapidly, not only that the range could well be down to 30 to 40 miles by then, there’s also the rubbish carrying capacity, all adds up to a not very attractive prospect

 

[Jenkins]

The eVito has a decent range.
https://ev-database.uk/car/1615/Mercedes-eVito-Tourer-L2-90-kWh

The e Vito van is OK too, the Sprinter has the shortest range. So the use and allocation within a delivery company needs to be resourced carefully. https://www.mercedes-benz.co.uk/vans/en/electric-vans

A van for each job

Fifth Gear did a test of the eVito against the electric VW Transporter when fully loaded with very poor results

However, I'd have thought that the Amazon electric vans would be much more lightly loaded and therefore ideal for the frequent stop-start nature of urban home delivery when in range of one of the distribution warehouses

 

[cougie uk]

By the time the drivers have done with them, there won’t be a straight panel left, plus Sprinters dissolve into rust quite rapidly, not only that the range could well be down to 30 to 40 miles by then, there’s also the rubbish carrying capacity, all adds up to a not very attractive prospect

Are petrol sprinters made out of stainless steel or do they rust away too?

And where are you getting that range from ? You're just guessing.

I would have thought that if range was an issue it's worth servicing the battery packs for that many vehicles.

I don't know why you're not a billionaire what with knowing more about delivery fleets than Amazon do.

 

[Alex321]

Are petrol sprinters made out of stainless steel or do they rust away too?

And where are you getting that range from ? You're just guessing.

I would have thought that if range was an issue it's worth servicing the battery packs for that many vehicles.

I don't know why you're not a billionaire what with knowing more about delivery fleets than Amazon do.

He wasn't suggesting Amazon are wrong (economically), he was suggesting that because of his (total guess) final range, they would be unsellable, and would therefore be scrapped after just a few years in the Amazon fleet.

I have no idea which piece of thin air that range guess was plucked from. But it was a necessary guess to validate his theory thath they will be unsellable.

 

[gzoom]

Whilst people here 'debate' about delivery vans, we've just arrived in Norway after a 1500km trip from Leicester .

Am speechless at the beauty of this place, and I've been lucky enough to travel around quite a bit.

Our EV is 5 years old already, but I feel like I've only just found it's calling.....transcontinental road trips across Europe. EVs are expensive, but if you enjoy road trips than an expensive car is probably justified, and an EV will work just as well as any combustion car for European holidays.