The Electric Multistop Fleet Delivery Vehicle-Fact or Fantasy

The purpose of this presentation is to alert the fleet delivery vehicle owners and operators of the facts relating to the performance breakthrough achieved by the Electric Vehicle Council's (EVC) work vehicle. Their declared desire to advance the state-of-the-art by a factor of two has actually been exceeded. The 108 vehicles now in operation throughout the U.S. and Canada are proving with factual costs-energy consumption, freeway speed, and distance performance records that the energy storage battery powered fleet delivery vehicle is indeed a present day fact! These records forecast actual savings in fuel energy costs that add up to substantial savings when compared accurately with the increased gas and/or diesel fuels consumed by the multistop fleet delivery vehicles now available with 1975 EPA pollution control devices. It is a little recognized fact that the EPA standards call for these devices to function properly with nominal engine idling time while stopped for 10% of the driving cycle, whereas the majority of multistop fleet delivery vehicles operate with nominal engine idling time of 50% or greater during their traffic and work route driving cycle. The impact of the increased first cost for these pollution control devices, plus the increased fuel cost, and much higher service and maintenance costs should cause fleet operators to examine the facts presented herein about the family of electric multistop fleet delivery vehicles available now. The potential for cost and energy savings are real and substantial. They can now make great contributions to combat inflation and conserve fossil fuels by the more efficient use of electric energy that can be stored in the vehicle batteries during off peak generating periods. They can now be used with substantial increase in non-polluting efficiency in the multistop fleet delivery vehicles in our sprawling megalopolis areas.