[Ched]

Latest update:

Three charges so far this month so we're doing pretty much a week per charge. I've finally stopped worrying about the range. When the battery reaches about 20%-30% pop it on charge overnight and it's at 80% or so in the morning. Each charge has been a remarkably consistent £3.10.

One issue. Van is boarded out to a very, very high spec with 3/4" ply everywhere. It's affected the payload enough that we can't go out with the full 600 litres (the weighbridge doesn't lie). So we're giving some thought as to whether to suffer tank anxiety or reduce the lining. Not run low enough in water yet to worry but it's an unexpected embuggerance.

Scared the boy the other day when I pulled into a gap in a line of 30mph traffic with a touch of vigour the other day. Great fun to drive.

Vin

Is that a 13a charger you're using? 50% charge overnight seems low otherwise?

We remove all unnecessary weight from all our vans, regardless of drivetrain.

With most EV's charging to 80% is best for battery life. If you need more range occasionally then charge to 100%.
If the electricity is only £3.10 assuming about 30p a unit that's only 10Kwh so a 13Amp charger could do that in a bit over 3 hrs. A single phase mains wired charger can do 7.2Kw so in theory it could be charged in about 90mins if the onboard charger will allow that.

[Perfect Windows]

Is that a 13a charger you're using? 50% charge overnight seems low otherwise?

We remove all unnecessary weight from all our vans, regardless of drivetrain.

It's a 7.4kW charger, so over the five hour cheap rate window (12:30 - 5:30 at 8.5p/kWh on Octopus Go) we're bunging in about 37kWh. Van is 75kWh so almost exactly 50%

Vin

[Perfect Windows]

It dwarfs all our other energy use...



Vin

[Perfect Windows]

With most EV's charging to 80% is best for battery life. If you need more range occasionally then charge to 100%.
If the electricity is only £3.10 assuming about 30p a unit that's only 10Kwh so a 13Amp charger could do that in a bit over 3 hrs. A single phase mains wired charger can do 7.2Kw so in theory it could be charged in about 90mins if the onboard charger will allow that.

I think our posts crossed. Five hours at 8.5p per kWh is the charge time.

The routine is now that at roughly 40ish miles range or just above (20% or just above) we bung in 5 hours at 7kW. Takes us to 70 - 80% depending on how close we were to 20 or 30%.

Vin

[zesty]

What’s the latest? How’s the van going?

[Perfect Windows]

All going beautifully, thanks. Still driving like a dream and while I was away, my son was out and did our highest mileage week on a single £3.10 harge (only a hundred odd miles but this is the first time we've given up on suffering range anxiety). That took us from 80% to 20%, give or take.

I like driving it so much that I've started using it for much of my town driving in preference to our Mondeo. I used to pop out in the car if I was picking up a tool or a part but now I hop in the van.  It's so relaxing to drive and costs 3p a mile. Next car will absolutely, 100%, be electric. Probably an Ioniq 5. (I'd like a 5N if dreams could come true but 600bhp might make me laugh myself to death when I left the lights).

One embuggerance; the charger is instructed when to charge via a supplier website. Their website went down on Monday afternoon, so the first couple of hours were charged early, i.e. at 26p per kWh.

Not sure if I mentioned this before but system installation was greatly eased by dropping split relay charging the leisure battery. Bought a lithium battery for £280 and bench charge it at the end of the week. Two of us working all week at high flow plus an electric reel takes it down to about 50%. Weighs nothing and it's a minor hassle for not having to do any wiring at all. I'd do the same for an ICE van but just happened to do it while changing to this one.

One of the franchisees is now actively looking for an electric van to replace within the next six months and another within the year.

Vin

[AuRavelling79]

Any updates on the van, Vin?

Also, what leisure battery did you buy for running the pumps etc. and why?

Do you have hot water and electric reel(s)?

[Perfect Windows]

All going well. Better than well, in fact. We're thinking about making an EV a requirement for all new franchisees. It's the right thing to do for several reasons: it's far better for the environment (regardless of the ill-informed nonsense you read on the internet); emissions matter and EVs are a big help; it's fabulous, utterly fabulous to drive, whisper quiet and massive fun when you need to put your foot down; it's £3 fuel for a week; four year old vans with 30k miles and Grade A batteries are going at auction for well under £10k+VAT, even cheaper than mine. A no brainer for new franchisees.

I've mentioned that we're not using an onboard charger. Instead we have a Sterling 100Ah Li-ion (LFP) battery (AL12100) at £279 ( I think). Chosen because they have a vid on YouTube where they drained it completely and fully recharged it hundreds of times without it losing capacity. Also LFP is by far the safest chemistry along with being able to run 100% to 0% without damage. So we use it all week and bench charge at the weekend.

The lowest state of charge after two of us working with cold water at high flow with one PF electric reel for four days was 53% and it sat the whole week at 13.4v. The battery weighs less than my wife's handbag so it's not a real hassle given that it's saved us a fairly complex wiring problem. I'd use this solution in future regardless of the type of van. Note that you need a charger with a Li-ion charging profile, but these start at about £15-£20.

Downsides? The van catches fire most evenings, but you get used to that.

Vin

[KS Cleaning]

I would be quite interested in going electric myself. Range anxiety isn’t a problem for me as I work within a 12 mile radius of my house. The big holdback for me is the anxiety of securing my tank frame to the floor. I’m sure you had to travel quite far to find someone who would fit yours and even then a  certain degree of improvisation was involved if I remember correctly?

[tlwcs]

I would be quite interested in going electric myself. Range anxiety isn’t a problem for me as I work within a 12 mile radius of my house. The big holdback for me is the anxiety of securing my tank frame to the floor. I’m sure you had to travel quite far to find someone who would fit yours and even then a  certain degree of improvisation was involved if I remember correctly?

The same for me.
Quite like the evening combustion, I could sell the BBQ

[Perfect Windows]

 Away from home at the mo but I'll measure up when I'm back and give the exact part of the floor you can't bolt through.

Vin

[KS Cleaning]

Away from home at the mo but I'll measure up when I'm back and give the exact part of the floor you can't bolt through.

Vin

Won’t different vans have different battery locations though? If I were going electric it would probably be the eCustom Sport I would opt for.

[zesty]

Away from home at the mo but I'll measure up when I'm back and give the exact part of the floor you can't bolt through.

Vin

Won’t different vans have different battery locations though? If I were going electric it would probably be the eCustom Sport I would opt for.

Same, that’s what im going for.

Battery takes up whole floor except the 1st quarter and last quarter of the van. So right where the tank goes the battery is underneath!

I’m going to use ratchet straps to strap a flat tank down if/when I get the e custom sport.

[KS Cleaning]

Away from home at the mo but I'll measure up when I'm back and give the exact part of the floor you can't bolt through.

Vin

Won’t different vans have different battery locations though? If I were going electric it would probably be the eCustom Sport I would opt for.

Same, that’s what im going for.

Battery takes up whole floor except the 1st quarter and last quarter of the van. So right where the tank goes the battery is underneath!

I’m going to use ratchet straps to strap a flat tank down if/when I get the e custom sport.

Aye a was thinking ratchet strapping might be the only option. I’ve got an upright 500 litre tank at the moment so wouldn’t feel comfortable ratchet strapping that, but the larger footprint of a flatter tank could be a possibility?

[CleanClear]

There's a very simple answer to fitting a tank in an electric van, and its literally looking you in the face. It applies equally to any petrol or diesel van too. It would be possible for anyone able to use a few spanners etc. to fit one perfectly safely in a vehicle.

Here is the cargo space of a typical van. There is no need to drill holes to secure a tank. The holes are already drilled and fitted with 'lashing points'. The lashing points are rated to hold (in total) the payload. In this example there are 6. As i think of it, most vans have 6 anyway wether its a Berlingo or a Boxer. Typical set up :






What everyone has done for years is ignore them lashing points and drill your own new holes exactly where your tank frame is and where you want it to go . So it looks something like this..... (red is the frame and green is the new drilled holes):




If the frame was made to fit the vehicle then you would be able to remove the lashing eye and bolt, place your frame over  it and bolt your frame into the existing floor nut. There are numerous ways to adapt a frame, spreader plate pre drilled etc. But it would probably mean that your frame would only ever fit that vehicle. I.e a tank frame for a vivaro would not fit in a Ford custom etc... But thats no different than roof racks. It just means buying a frame that fits your own vehicle and utilises its existing lashing points.

I'm having fun with my green and red pen!!  :




Someone should of got onto this before me, i'm not the sharpest tool in the box !! 

I didn't mean to hijack this thread into a tank fitting one, but seeing as the fitting of a tank into an electric vehicle using old fashioned methods is a very difficult and costly method. And seeing as Soupy even had a custom made spec frame and still drilled through his floor i still think people are missing the very obvious, although a few of you have touched on this subject in this thread before.

  Not mentioned that i can see is the price for the fitting of the tank, how much was it Vin?

 Vin .

[zesty]

Yeah it’s not complicated,  nothing wrong with tonne ratchets and a flat tank. Easiest way to go with a Electric van.

[zesty]

Away from home at the mo but I'll measure up when I'm back and give the exact part of the floor you can't bolt through.

Vin

Won’t different vans have different battery locations though? If I were going electric it would probably be the eCustom Sport I would opt for.

Same, that’s what im going for.

Battery takes up whole floor except the 1st quarter and last quarter of the van. So right where the tank goes the battery is underneath!

I’m going to use ratchet straps to strap a flat tank down if/when I get the e custom sport.

Aye a was thinking ratchet strapping might be the only option. I’ve got an upright 500 litre tank at the moment so wouldn’t feel comfortable ratchet strapping that, but the larger footprint of a flatter tank could be a possibility?

Have you test driven the e custom sport?

I’ve only test driven the limited, was a bit slow. But great to drive.

The sport does 0-60 in around 8.5 seconds, so not too shabby.

[Spruce]

There's a very simple answer to fitting a tank in an electric van, and its literally looking you in the face. It applies equally to any petrol or diesel van too. It would be possible for anyone able to use a few spanners etc. to fit one perfectly safely in a vehicle.

Here is the cargo space of a typical van. There is no need to drill holes to secure a tank. The holes are already drilled and fitted with 'lashing points'. The lashing points are rated to hold (in total) the payload. In this example there are 6. As i think of it, most vans have 6 anyway wether its a Berlingo or a Boxer. Typical set up :






What everyone has done for years is ignore them lashing points and drill your own new holes exactly where your tank frame is and where you want it to go . So it looks something like this..... (red is the frame and green is the new drilled holes):




If the frame was made to fit the vehicle then you would be able to remove the lashing eye and bolt, place your frame over  it and bolt your frame into the existing floor nut. There are numerous ways to adapt a frame, spreader plate pre drilled etc. But it would probably mean that your frame would only ever fit that vehicle. I.e a tank frame for a vivaro would not fit in a Ford custom etc... But thats no different than roof racks. It just means buying a frame that fits your own vehicle and utilises its existing lashing points.

I'm having fun with my green and red pen!!  :




Someone should of got onto this before me, i'm not the sharpest tool in the box !! 

I didn't mean to hijack this thread into a tank fitting one, but seeing as the fitting of a tank into an electric vehicle using old fashioned methods is a very difficult and costly method. And seeing as Soupy even had a custom made spec frame and still drilled through his floor i still think people are missing the very obvious, although a few of you have touched on this subject in this thread before.

  Not mentioned that i can see is the price for the fitting of the tank, how much was it Vin?

 Vin .

When I worked for Citroen on commercial van sales, Citroen technical never rated the lashing points as suitable to secure loads of any substance. In fact they described it as a lashing point for a cargo net to restrain small packages. At the time, no one at Citroen had a load rating spec on any lashing point in any of their vans.

Each lashing point on my Peugeot Boxer van cosists of a small plate which is spot welded to the van floor with 3 spot welds. The nut is virtually tack welded into this small plate. I don't even think they used a high tensile nut as it would loose its strength when welded.

Vans sold to furniture deliverers were fitted with additional securing brackets on the floor and down the sides. These guys didn't rate the lashing hooks either. If they did, they wouldn't go to the extra cost of adding additional securing points.

I most certainly wouldn't put any faith in these lashing hooks to secure my tank, sorry. This is my honest opinion. I'm not telling anyone what they should do. But my recommendation would be to ask the manufacturer's advice of their chosen van what the lashing points load rating is to be safe.

I'm pretty sure Vin wouldn't have gone to the expense of removing his EV'd battery if he didn't have to. He has a duty of care if he is going to make buying an EV a requirement for future franchisees.

[KS Cleaning]

Away from home at the mo but I'll measure up when I'm back and give the exact part of the floor you can't bolt through.

Vin

Won’t different vans have different battery locations though? If I were going electric it would probably be the eCustom Sport I would opt for.

Same, that’s what im going for.

Battery takes up whole floor except the 1st quarter and last quarter of the van. So right where the tank goes the battery is underneath!

I’m going to use ratchet straps to strap a flat tank down if/when I get the e custom sport.

Aye a was thinking ratchet strapping might be the only option. I’ve got an upright 500 litre tank at the moment so wouldn’t feel comfortable ratchet strapping that, but the larger footprint of a flatter tank could be a possibility?

Have you test driven the e custom sport?

I’ve only test driven the limited, was a bit slow. But great to drive.

The sport does 0-60 in around 8.5 seconds, so not too shabby.

I haven’t, but I’ve heard they are good to drive. I’ve had my diesel Sport for 6 years now and I would be very reluctant to drop down to Limited spec.

[CleanClear]

When I worked for Citroen on commercial van sales, Citroen technical never rated the lashing points as suitable to secure loads of any substance. In fact they described it as a lashing point for a cargo net to restrain small packages. At the time, no one at Citroen had a load rating spec on any lashing point in any of their vans.

Each lashing point on my Peugeot Boxer van cosists of a small plate which is spot welded to the van floor with 3 spot welds. The nut is virtually tack welded into this small plate. I don't even think they used a high tensile nut as it would loose its strength when welded.

Lashing point in floor :




Unscrew it , throw away the D ring and get a longer bolt :




According to the Peugeot Boxer manual, thats good for 500KG (each point) .