According to NextGreenCar.com, data gathered from Smith Electric Vehicles sheds new light on the residual value debate: advanced battery technology suggests that electric commercial vehicles could be productive vehicles for a decade or more.
Smith Electric Vehicles has conducted extensive trials on the latest lithium-ion phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries in its Smith Edison and Smith Newton commercial vehicles. When combined with data from its customers' vehicles, Smith Electric can make a compelling case for the real operational productive life of its LCVs and light trucks being longer than initially expected.
Kevin Harkin, Sales Director for Smith Electric Vehicles, said: "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."
"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% 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."
Smith now guarantees its batteries for five years, as opposed to the 3-year warranty it could offer on Zebra batteries. And because the drive train on a Smith vehicle is friction-free, it does not wear in the same way as an internal combustion engine.
"Couple this to the extended battery life and you can see why many of our fleet customers are pushing out the operating life of our vehicles to seven, eight or even 10 years. This extended life creates a compelling saving on whole life costs – it's an extra three to five years without having to buy diesel," added Kevin.
Prior to the development of the new technology vehicles, the most profitable part of the Smith Electric business was the refurbishment and re-sale of road-going EVs to industrial and airport customers. Smith sees a similar model developing with its LiFePO4 vehicles – a fleet manager can operate an EV until its range capabilities decrease below their requirements; then sell the vehicle into an application that requires lower mileage.
Smith Electric acknowledges that there are many applications for used electric vehicles that have degraded batteries; for example, airside operations in airports do not need a full 100 mile range, and a refurbished vehicle is likely to satisfy requirments.
Although battery technology will undoubtedly improve as the EV industry matures, Smith does not expect that this will render older technologies obsolete. The company expects the value of older vehicles will be linked to their displacement of diesel costs – therefore, every increase in pump prices or congestion charging enhances the worth of an EV. There are road-going electric commercials built by Smith 30 years ago that are still working vehicles.
