Twelve volt battery technology needs to improve, says the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP), as “bricking” issues continue to affect the adoption of electric vans.
Paul Hollick, APF chair, said that despite widespread publicity, many fleets were still being left in a position where their vans became unusable and had to be trailered to a dealership to be restarted.
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Hollick explained: “The fundamental problem here is that when an electric van is left unused for a couple of weeks, the 12v battery charges down and it becomes impossible to start or recharge the vehicle. There is no choice but to return it to the franchise dealer and even then, it can often take weeks to resolve the problem.
“We’re even hearing from members who are having electric vans delivered in this state and having to reject them immediately, which is completely unacceptable. It’s unavoidably having an impact on the appetite of some fleets to electrify their vans.
“The handful of manufacturers involved, and this affects several models, have been quite different in their responses with some being faster to work towards a solution than others.
Is revised software that would preserve the 12 volt battery for longer the solution?
“Our members generally accept that in adopting electric vans, they are close to the cutting edge of using new technology and some teething issues will occur. However, there is a general feeling that the 12 volt battery technology being used lags some distance behind the advances that have made in electric vehicle batteries that have been made in recent years, and a large perceived difference between the extremes of how much work these manufacturers appear to be putting into resolving the issue.”
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By GlobalDataPaul said the immediate solution that appeared to be most commonly suggested by manufacturers. That being revised software that would preserve the 12 volt battery for longer.
“Some manufacturers are telling us that the new software is in progress and could be here in a matter of weeks or months, while others are much vaguer. The latter aren’t winning many friends among fleet operators.”
