The All Electric Man in A Van, TOP GEAR Challenge!

Is going electric really cheaper than diesel alternative? (Specifically from a commercial point of view)

?SPOILER ALERT – The result did not quite go as everyone expected..

?On Tuesday 26th March 2024, my esteemed colleague David Skerman FIMI,CAE and I had a couple of supplier and customer visits booked in two areas of the country, rather than do the usual plan and take a car, we decided to use a MAXUS eDeliver9 all electric van to complete the UK tour, and document our experience.

The Van:

Maxus eDeliver9 L3H2 88kWh Battery

WTLP – 219miles

AC and DC charging

Unladen for this test…

Cruise Control

Regen Braking

A cracking electric van, comfortable to drive, smooth, effortless, and to be fair, given it was all dual carriage way and motorway driving, the range on the dash was accurate to 6-7miles – something that even our Tesla’s can’t seem to predict.

The Trip:

Ipswich --> Wakefield --> Cannock --> Ipswich

476miles

The Conditions:

Mainly Dual Carriage Way and Motorway driving

62mph top speed

Average between 53mph and 62mph

Dry day mostly at 13c, return trip from Rugby was cooler and rained for most part of it

The Summary:

Overall, a fairly effortless experience. We started at 0600 and returned back to base at 2100 – the traffic was fairly fluid, albeit we were held up 1.30hours on the A14 at Huntingdon due to an overturned HGV and a 45min delay on the A5 at Cannock in standstill traffic due to a police incident. We aimed for 3 charges over the course of the trip, and had planned Grantham Services as stop 1, M1 Wakefield as stop 2, and a slightly ambitious Rugby Services stop 3. Due to the delay in the morning, we decided to ‘Punch On’ in stint 2, throwing ECO mode out the window, and thus, a 15min coffee stop at Cannock was required to get us to Rugby services. We arrived at each charging location with circa 25-30miles spare, and used 2 GRIDSERVE sites and an ChargeNet Stations Charger, all up to 150kWh DC available. To be fair, using our PAUA card was effortless, and easy to use, and each charger operated a tap and go system, perfect for the operation of any electric vehicle. KUDOS to Paua . ECO mode sacrificed any heat or aircon in the vehicle, and restricted the vehicle to 56mph, there were a few 6mile overtakes with trucks along the route and safe to say, ECO mode didn’t stay on for long!

The Issues:

The infrastructure throughout the UK is far better than anyone gives credit for, we could have stopped at a number of different sites should we have needed. Albeit a great van, a trip like this, and with an 88kWh battery, the charge speed of the van topped out at 70kWh. The charging infrastructure throughout the UK enables charges to charge at 350kWh, however, it is important to note, that it rely’s on the vehicle to accept a charge rate of that significance. Tesla cars can charge up to 250kWh for example, which makes a difference to charging experiences and dramatically reduces charge time. As it happens, our average charge time was 37mins per charge, the first 2 were around 25mins each, one 15min charge, and a 1 hour charge whilst dining at a reputable Michelin start fast food outlet – so not horrendous, but, clearly could be better. There are also issues, although not experienced on the day, where some sites are more popular than others, where there could be more chargers, for example, Grantham has 10 chargers, Wakefield had 8, Rugby has 18, Cannock had 2 – I always see issues in popular destinations such as Cambridge where the chargers are always full during peak periods, and there are 3-4 vehicles waiting to charge, ruining the concept completely. But this will get better over time, and it is just a case of adding more charge points in these areas.

The Results:

Total Mileage: 476miles

Total Drive Time: 12.30hours (including 2.15hours of standstill traffic)

Average Speed Excluding Traffic: 46mph

Efficiency: 2.07mpkW (WLPT suggest we should have got 2.48mpkW – giving you a real range of 182miles)

Total Number of Stops: 4 Locations

Average Charge Time: 37mins

Average State of Charge Charging: 16%-80%

Total Charge Time: 2.30hours (including coffee, toilet and food breaks)

Total Energy Used: 229.62kWh

Total Cost: ￡125.28 + VAT

If the van was diesel, and assuming it got 30mpg, and assuming diesel is at ￡1.45 per litre, this trip would have cost ￡86.44 + VAT.

The Conclusion:

Quite Simply, the capital cost of the electric variant of this van, versus its diesel counterpart is over double and when you take into account the fuel cost difference, which doesn’t take a rocket scientist to advise you, it deosn’t provide you with either a cost saving or even break even when looking at overall costs to a business. I would argue the cost of maintaining an electric vehicle is significantly more but until we have more data, I cannot quantify how much this is, but reality is – based on this journey alone, and being UNLADEN, the cost benefits are non-existent.

HOWEVER!!

One thing I will say, this test was never to prove the concept that electric is ‘better, cheaper, faster or even easier’ than diesel, but to actually get a true reflection of the process, and the experience to show others the all-round experience of going to electric from a diesel vehicle. Costs is obviously a big factor in any business decision, I understand that.

But, Electric does have its place, especially around town’s and cities, where charging at base will significantly reduce the cost of running the vehicle. On thing to also mention, given I am slightly bias towards Tesla and the Tesla charging infrastructure, that all third party charging networks are nearly 3 times more expensive than Tesla. On this journey, we paid ￡0.79-￡0.85 per kWh which is not cheaper than diesel comparatively – Tesla on the other hand, if you charge a Tesla Vehicle, averages around ￡0.30-0.45 per kW.

The cost of charging is way too high out on the roads and public EV Chargers, the capital cost of vehicles seriously needs looking at – many of you will have seen and known I am an avid fan of electric, it can work from an operational point of view, and there are multiple cost savings out there to reduce charging costs such as charging from base (￡0.30 per kWh), overnight charging at special rates, I know various energy suppliers incentivising low unit prices. BUT, I can see why there are so many negatives out there, and I’d like to think that this exercise alone provides the proof that although anti-EV will say, ‘I TOLD YOU SO’, and I would agree with you, in parts. It isn’t all bad news.

We are at a stage in the EV journey that data will provide to governments, manufacturers, end-users the full story is not where we need to be – but like with any radical change, you have to trust the process and things will evolve. EV’s are something that will become legislation in years to come, it is what it is, it’s a shame early adopters of the programme will potentially be out of pocket however, I hope they will benefit in years to come both operationally and financially.

As a business, we have over 3,000 commercial vehicles on fleet, electric will not work for some customers, others it will. EV’s are a large talking point, my opinion is I would drive an electric car, without question. I would look into EV Van’s depending on the application, and in terms of my logistics business, electric HGV’s are too far off, both in terms of infrastructure and price – us poor hauliers cannot afford a ￡350k truck running on containers.

Any business looking to learn and gain PR from it, yes, go for it, but it won’t be a cost saving measure – purely a tick box exercise.

If anyone wants any diesel vans, happy to help! ??

Any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

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#BOSH

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