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

SELECTION OF VEHICLE 27 owing to the wider range afforded for the selection of a suitable chassis and body, both depreciation and running costs may be kept lower than would otherwise have been possible. There are, of course, two sides to the question, and the dark one is that, by reason of this enlarged field of clioice, there exists a greater possibility of a mistake being made in the selection. There is no wish to disliearten or to discourage the trader who is about to adopt the motor in place of the horse, but it is only right to mention the pitfalls in case they should be ignored. A van sliould not necessarily be chosen because it is inexpensive or because it is supplied with an attractive and commo- dious body, or again, because an exceptionally low fuel cönsumption is claimed for it, but rather because the motive power and the chassis design are eminently suited to the nature and conditions of the work which it is intended that the van shall undertake. It is impossible to lay too much stress on the importance of this matter. An Example. No trader, for instance, who had bought an electric vehicle and a large or medium-sized petrol van, could put the former on long distance point-to-point des- patch, and the latter on house-to-house deliveries, and yet obtain successful results. The obvious reason, of course, is that the electric vehicle, being comparatively slow in speed but economical in traffic and on short distances, is the more suitable for use in traffic and for house-to-house deliveries, owing to the smooth drive and the absence of energy-waste while standing idle. The petrol car, however, with its capacity for long- distance work and higher rate of speed, is better adapted for the point-to-point system.