Abstract
AFTER many years of almost suspended animation, the battery-electric vehicle industry is showing signs of life. At the Exide motor show, Mr. D. P. Dunne stated that the monthly output of these vehicles in Great Britain is larger than it has ever been before. Compared with petrol vehicles, they make less noise and produce less atmospheric pollution. Statistics prove that their life is much longer and their maintenance is much less than that of any other form of mechanically propelled road vehicle. Several corporations are using electric vans in connexion with their electrical apparatus hiring schemes. The West Ham undertaking has vans with a speed of 20 miles per hour and a range of 50 miles per charge. They use an electric motor coupled to the back-axle through differential gearing. The charging arrangements are quite simple: a ‘jack’ is provided on the dashboard for connecting with the mains and there is an auto matic control to limit the rate of charging. This undertaking has introduced a night tariff of 0.66d. per unit for vehicle charging. In certain cases, such vehicles will prove more economical than petrol vans.
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Battery-Electric Cars. Nature 134, 657 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/134657c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/134657c0