Electric van 12-volt battery issues persist, says AFP

The Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) is calling for 12-volt battery technology to improve with “bricking” issues continuing to affect the adoption of electric vans.

Despite widespread publicity, it says that many fleets are still being left in a position where their vans become unuseable and had to be taken to a dealership to be restarted.

“The fundamental problem here is that when an electric van is left unused for a couple of weeks, the 12-volt battery charges down and it becomes impossible to start or recharge the vehicle,” explained Paul Hollick, AFP chair.

“There is no choice but to return it to the franchise dealer and even then, it can often take weeks to resolve the problem.

“We’re even hearing from members who are having electric vans delivered in this state and having to reject them immediately, which is completely unacceptable. It’s unavoidably having an impact on the appetite of some fleets to electrify their vans.”

The AFP says that there is a general feeling that the 12-volt battery technology being used lags some distance behind the advances that have made in electric vehicle batteries that have been made in recent years.

The immediate solution that appears to be most commonly suggested by manufacturers was revised software that would preserve the 12-volt battery for longer.

“Some manufacturers are telling us that the new software is in progress and could be here in a matter of weeks or months, while others are much vaguer,” continued Hollick. “The latter aren’t winning many friends among fleet operators.

“Also, it’s worth underlining that even where a fix is available, we are being told that the bricking problem is still likely to occur, it will just take longer to happen, which again underlines the weakness of the underlying technology.

“However, even if it could be extended to 3-4 weeks to take users over holiday periods, that would be a definite advantage and improvement in practicality.”

He added that fleets were having to improvise solutions, with some investing in solar panels to trickle charge the 12-volt battery, but this solution also had limitations.

“We know of one AFP member that is looking at spending £1 million on solar panels, which provides some idea of the scope of the problem,” he said. “This provides a fix but again, even though it potentially substantially lengthens the time taken, the van could still eventually brick. It’s looking more and more likely that this won’t be completely resolved until the next generation of electric vans. Manufacturers need to step up.”