Banke

Design Principles

What does “ground up” mean when you talk about design principles?

The eRCV27 is designed from scratch as a customised, optimised full-electric vehicle. It does not rely on an existing OEM manufacturer chassis for its underlying design as is the case with all the existing competitor offerings currently available in the market.

What are the basic specifications of the chassis?

The eRCV27 is available in a 6x2 rear-steer configuration and has a cab width of 2550 mm. As a full- electric vehicle, the gross vehicle weight (GVW) allowed in the EU is 27 tons. The eRCV27 is fully air suspended.

What are the main design features of the cabin to be aware of?

The eRCV27 has been designed as a workplace for a refuse vehicle crew. The eRCV27 has sliding doors on both the passenger and driver side which allow easy access to the cabin. The doors only protrude 90 mm outside the vehicle when they are opened and therefore present no hazard to surrounding traffic, pedestrians or cyclists. The vehicle has a low-entry cabin, defined by a 400 mm entrance height, a fully flat floor on the passenger side and comfortable standing height within the cabin. The driver can pneumatically unlock the steering column and push this forward to clear additional space. This provides the driver with easy access to the vehicle on both sides.

Battery

Are lower temperatures a problem for Lithium Ion batteries?

Discharging (during use) is not a problem. Charging at low temperatures is, however, damaging to the batteries and should be avoided. For this purpose, the battery pack in the eRCV27 has an on-board heating system.

What is the life time of the batteries?

The lift time of battery cells depends on the number of full cycles, from fully charged to fully empty. Ideally this is what happens on a working day but in practice every user will maintain a certain reserve to ensure the vehicle comes home. Banke specifies the number of full cycles as 2000 plus. Depending on the attained reserve this will correspond to 2500 days of operation or the equivalent of 10 years.

It is important to realize that when reaching the life-time, this does not mean the system will no longer function. The remaining capacity of the battery cells is still 80% of the original value. The aging of the battery cells will however continue in an unspecified manner.

What type of Li-Ion is used and why?

Li-Ion comes in many different chemistries and all have their strengths. Lithium-Iron- Phosphate (LiFePo4) has significantly improved energy density in recent years and is the most stable in terms of thermal runaway. It also can handle the daily deep cycling of the battery cells.

Are the battery cells used the same as in an electric private cars?

Private cars do not deep cycle the battery cells every day like a full electric truck. If they would do so the life time of these cells would be extremely limited. For private cars the physical volume of the battery system is more important and therefore the chemistry used is completely different.

Another difference is that most private car battery packs are constructed from many very small battery cells. Such a system is not serviceable. Banke uses fewer but larger cells that can be replaced in case one fails.

Can I choose different capacities of the battery pack?

The battery pack comes in two sizes: 215 kWh and 345 kWh. These figures are determined by the types of battery cells available within a certain physical format. It is not possible to add or remove a “few” cells to tune the capacity to a desired figure as this would alter the system voltage.

Can the battery pack be repaired when a single cell fails?

Every Banke battery pack is constructed in such a way that a defect cell can be located and replaced. In principle this cell exchange is done off-site. The full battery pack can be exchanged with a service pack by opening the roof service door and lifting the pack out of the vehicle using an overhead crane.

I still do not have enough energy. What are the options?

There is a practical limit to how much capacity you can take on board. Space, weight and costs define those limits. For municipal vehicle applications, recharging en route is logistically not a realistic option as even partial recharging is measured in terms of hours. A fast way of “refuelling” must thus be chosen.

Banke is developing systems combining a hybrid mix of specialized battery cells and fuel cells powered by Hydrogen or, in the future, methanol. This system is not currently available as it is still at the development stage.

Charging

How long does it take to recharge the batteries?

This depends on the capacity of the battery pack and how far it has been discharged during use. It also depends if the charger can run on full capacity or is limited to adapt to local limitations of the grid.

Charging may take longer at low temperatures as the on-board heating system will first increase the battery temperature before charging commences. Charging may also take longer when the batteries are not charged every day. In this case, the Battery Management System needs time to re-balance the cells.

Normally the eRCV27 can be expected to be fully recharged after 8 hours.

What are the specifications for the grid to recharge the batteries?

The on-board charger needs connection to 3 x 400 Volt 3-phase with Neutral and Protective Earth (5 wire) on a 63 Amp group. The charger can draw up to 43 kW.

What if the grid does not allow for this charging power?

The on-board charger can be reduced in performance and adapt to a 32 Amp group by software changes. This however implies that the charging time will double.

Is DC fast charging available?

Most automotive DC charging stations are 50 kW and would not provide a major improvement in charging time compared to the onboard AC charger. 150 kW DC charging stations are much discussed in public, but are not widely available. They would also require a significant investment from the customer side and one has to think things through logistically too. A quick intermediate recharge at half of the tour will still take 1 hour and all trucks will need this recharge at about the same time, especially when the goal was to reduce the size of the battery pack with 50%.

For these reasons we concentrate on AC charging which is based on a European standardized Industrial standard.

Vehicle Operation

What is the range of the vehicle?

The range depends on the battery capacity fitted, the energy use of the e-PTO driving the work functions of the body and the speed profile of the vehicle over the days route.

What is the vehicle’s turning circle

The steering axles of the eRCV27 have a larger deflection then normal chassis. For this reason the turning circle of the 3600 mm wheelbase vehicle is only 7400 mm.

How do the sliding doors contribute to safety?

The sliding doors only protrude 90 mm to the outside of the vehicle when they open. By doing this, they do not become a safety hazard for passing traffic, like overhauling cars on the driver side or bicycles on the passenger side.

What driver safety systems is the eRCV equipped with?

The driver is assisted by following systems:

Lane departure warning system. An optical detection system that gives an acoustical warning when the driver unintentionally moves to another driving lane.

Advanced Emergency Brake System. An optical detection system combined with radar that determines the distance to obstacles in front of the vehicle and actively interacts with the brake system. Obstacles may be driving or stationary.

Adaptive Cruise Control. Actively adapts the set speed to maintain safe distance with the vehicle driving in front.

Does the vehicle have an anti-terrorist system?

The eRCV is equipped with a system which prevents the truck being stolen when the driver is not in his/her seat. The propulsion of the truck is interrupted when the driver leaves his/her seat. He/she can only re-engage the drive line with an RFID tag.

Does the eRCV have a bird-eye view camera system?

As an option, Banke can offer a system based on 6 cameras in combination with a 10 inch colour screen in the chassis cab. The system provides a 360 degrees overview of the area surrounding the truck.

Crew Comfort

What are the key features relating to crew comfort?

The crew is seated on 3 separate seats in a bench arrangement. The crew enters the chassis cab through a sliding door. The step-in height to the cabin floor is only 400 mm. As the floor is flat and the height between the floor and the roof is more than 2000 mm, the crew can quickly move to the seats without any obstructions.

What kind of access does the driver have to the vehicle?

The driver has the same door as the crew. The driver can seat himself immediately from a step-in height of only 400 mm. Alternatively the driver has an easy access to the crew compartment as there are no control elements (e.g. parking brake) obstructing the way. With a touch of a button in the cockpit, the driver can unlock the steering column and push it to the front when the vehicle is in the working area. This clears 150 mm additional space between his seat and the steering wheel and improves the access to the crew compartment even more.

What cooling systems are available?

The following cooling options are fitted to the eRCV:

Fan with ventilation openings. 2 at the driver and 1 per passenger seat.
Rooftop hatch. Electrically operated (up, down and tilting).
Ventilation windows in the sliding doors. Manually operated.

In addition to these systems, it is also possible to drive with the doors open. The doors as shaped in such way that a maximum deflection of the front-wheels is possible when the doors are open. The maximum speed can be limited to a customer specified value. The doors will close automatically when reaching this speed.

Is an air-conditioner option available?

This is possible as an option. Please be aware that air-conditioners demand considerable energy which notably reduces the range of the vehicle.

How is the cabin heated during colder months?

The cooling fluid of the power-electrics is recycled to heat the cabin. A 5 KW heater will engage automatically when the amount of energy is not sufficient.

Are sun visors installed?

3 manually operated sun-visors, one on the driver side and 2 on the passenger side.

What storage compartments are available inside the cabin?

3 large Overhead bins with lockable doors above the crew and driver heads. Coat hanger bar under the overhead bins. 2 smaller Storage compartments with lockable doors above the front wind screen.

Is there a refrigerator in the cabin?

As an option, 3rd passenger seat may be removed to mount an 18 litres cooling box.