It’s not about whether or not the range is lower at lower temperatures, or what you get in your car, but the accuracy of the claims being made by vendors of zero emission technologies, and the commitments they make to customers.
BYD has some *great* products and is run by sone great folks, but this kind of thing undermines the ability to transform fleets to zero emissions. It hurts all of us working in the field when companies fail to meet the contracted performance specs in their contracts. And this is not the only similar horror story I’ve heard (though not necessarily about BYD). There is really no excuse for this. I will likely see BYD’s President later this week, and will be expressing my disappointment. - Mark Sent from my Fuel Cell powered iPhone > On May 28, 2019, at 7:58 PM, Rod Hower via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > > Anybody that drives an EV, even a Volt that is a series hybrid realize the > cold temperature limitations, especially if you like to keep it warm and cozy > on cold days. I get 46 miles EV on my 2014 Volt on the best days, 24 miles > on the coldest nastiest days when I like to keep the car warm and toasty. > Not a problem for me since I commute 21 miles and plug in at work and I also > plug in at home with 240V so I never use gas. My best guess is this BYD > range was estimated by sales and marketing while the engineers were cringing > in the corner knowing it was complete BS, but the accounting department and > upper management looking for higher returns on investment realized range > needed to be increased to meet contracts with bus fleets that required the > higher range, regardless of them actually needing them. The good news is > that the majority of bus manufactures see the writing on the wall and are > planning for an all electric fleet knowing that will be demanded soon by many > fleet orders. The immediate future for bus transit is electric and most > manufactures are already gearing up for that. With the advancements in > batteries, motors and controls, most fleet operators realize that electric is > cheaper to maintain than diesel or natural gas. The transitions will not > happen overnight, been when the people paying for overall cost of fleet > operation is much cheaper on electric they will switch, and it's coming soon > < 5 years. > On Tuesday, May 28, 2019, 10:34:59 PM EDT, brucedp5 via EV > <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > > > > https://electrek.co/2019/05/24/byd-indianapolis-electric-bus-range/ > BYD installing wireless charging in Indianapolis to boost disappointing > range of its electric buses > May. 24th 2019 > > [image > https://i2.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/05/indygobydbus.jpg > e-bus > ] > > Electric bus maker BYD has to install and pay for a wireless charging > infrastructure upgrade in Indianapolis after its buses experienced > “lower-than-expected distances on one charge” during testing. > > Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation IndyGo announced it reached > an agreement with BYD to get the new infrastructure. BYD will install > wireless charging hardware for the buses, in addition to three wireless > inductive charging pads along bus routes. > > During testing, IndyGo realized low temperatures were causing a dramatic > dropoff in predicted range. Justin Stuehrenberg, IndyGo vice president of > capital projects and planning, said: > > “We anticipated that vehicle range would depend on temperature, but the > contract requires a 275-mile range at 0 degrees. Our team identified several > options to address the issue and worked closely with BYD to determine the > most feasible resolution. At the same time, we made it clear to the company > they must be accountable to our contract. Numerous test days this spring > resulted in range performance at and above the contractually required 275 > miles on a single charge. To date, the best range of any one test was 307 > miles on a single charge.” > > Many of those tests didn’t approach the required 275 miles, usually ending > somewhere in the low 200-mile range, as the range report from IndyGo > reveals. On one frigid day, range was limited to 152 miles. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
