Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Vehicle efficiency


Our fleet of vehicles is primarily for delivery of finished product. Given that there is little storage on construction sites in Manhattan, our deliveries are almost daily for the material that will be installed promptly. The weight and size of materials being delivered results in diesel powered trucks proving to be the best vehicle choice.

Looking to the future, there is a possibility that delivery vehicles could be electric. To test this concept, a real-world case study is underway. There are very few plug-in electric vehicles available unless you participate as part of a large fleet. At the current time, the only plug-in electric vehicle readily available is the Tesla Roadster.

Having driven one from home to work this morning, it took 788 watt hours of energy. This is the same energy as a 60 watt light bulb left on for 13hrs and 8minutes. At peak generation time of our solar array, that much energy is captured from the sun in 28.4 seconds. If purchased from the electric utility, it would have cost 17 cents.

This alternative vehicle does have limitations due to the charging time nature of the batteries storing energy, so more testing of the concept is required.