Battery three wheelers for municipal and last-mile fleets: range, load and charging
The vehicle is the easy part. Duty cycle and charging infrastructure decide whether the fleet works.
Battery three wheelers sell into two quite different buyers in our markets: municipalities running waste collection and light municipal duties, and operators running last-mile delivery. The vehicles overlap; the specification does not, because the duty cycle is different and the duty cycle is what sizes the battery.
Specify the day, not the vehicle
Three figures describe a duty cycle well enough to specify from:
- Distance per day, and whether it is continuous or in bursts with stops.
- Load carried, and whether it is carried out and back or only one way. A collection round loads progressively; a delivery round unloads progressively, and the energy used differs.
- Terrain and gradient. On hilly routes this changes the specification more than the load does.
A vehicle quoted against a nominal range figure and run on a demanding cycle will not deliver that range, and the shortfall appears as vehicles out of service in the afternoon rather than as a complaint about the specification.
Charging is part of the purchase
The most common failure with an electric fleet in our markets is not the vehicle. It is that charging was treated as something to arrange on arrival. Before an order, settle where the vehicles charge, the supply available at that point, and whether the fleet charges overnight on one shift or has to turn around mid-day. Where mains supply is unreliable, power generation equipment or a solar installation belongs in the same project, and it should be sized against the fleet rather than guessed.
Supplier questions
- What is the range at the load you actually carry, not unladen?
- What battery chemistry, and what is the expected cycle life at your ambient temperature?
- What charging equipment is included, and at what supply voltage?
- What does a battery replacement cost, and what is the lead time for one?
That last question is the one that separates a supplier selling vehicles from one selling a fleet. Ask it before the order.
Fleets rarely buy one thing
Municipal buyers placing a fleet order are usually also buying traffic and site safety equipment and workshop capability to maintain it - see garage and workshop equipment. Quoted together they ship together.
Send the duty cycle, the load and where the vehicles will charge. Request a quotation, or see the three wheeler range.