Motor Road Transport For Commercial Purposes
(Liquid Fuel, Steam, Electricity)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES 79 As mentioned above, the electric car is only suitable to-day for work in a comparatively short radius of despatch, and from this faet the disadvantages can be gauged. (1) Limited operation. (2) Radius affeeted to a considerable extent by nature of roads and road surface. (3) Weight of battery, although this is largely compensated for by the elimination of such parts in a petrol chassis as the gear-box. (4) Time needed for charging, when it is not possible to do this while the vehicle is being loaded or unloaded. (5) Relatively low rate of speed. (6) Possible difficulty of charging easily and at a reasonable figure, though mueh. has been done to facilitate this item during late years. Future Prospects of Electric Gonveyances. The restrictions placed upon petrol-driven vehicles during the war, entailing the complete laying-up of many thousands of these machines, brought the advantages of electric conveyances prominently before traders and firms interested in mechanical road trans- port, and invaluable service was rendered by the electrically-driven chassis owing to its independence of these restrictions. Thus the Utility of this class of van was fully established, and the writer considers that not only will the electric transport vehicle hold its own, but that its use for short-distance frequent-stop delivery work, will in the future become greatly extended. Principal Gonstructional Features. The lay-out of the electric vehicle chassis is very mueh simpler than that of those driven by means of liquid fuel or steam, and as this type is so mueh less