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.
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.
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.
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.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.
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.
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.