Wednesday, March 24, 2021

BEV RV van considerations

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Ducato

 https://maxwellvehicles.com/index.html#epro

 https://wayfarervans.com/

Maxwell is making a business of converting well used "last mile" delivery vans for delivery companies that have extracted most of the value from new ICE vans. Dodge/Ram Fiat ICE "ProMasters" were chosen by Maxwell for their product.  They are front wheel drive so most of the drive line is straightforwardly replaced with a Tesla drive unit.  Maxwell has developed an interface computer that makes the ProMaster think it still has an ICE and the Tesla drive train to think it is in a Tesla car.  So, Maxwell is able to take a van worth around $10k and, for $30+k, turn it into a good condition battery electric van.    I believe potential competing new delivery vans are priced in the $150k-$200k range.

My interest is in an RV conversion van.  Maxwell is not offering SuperCharger access so cross country travel will have to be via CCS charging.  Which is SADLY lacking in all aspects: geographical placement, maintenance, reliability, charge power, payment convenience,   I  am somewhat inclined to get into a minimal cost Maxwell for <$50k and worry about the charging problem later.  Of course, the CCS system is likely to improve over time.  I'll need to find out how upgradeable a small battery might be.

When I got my first 2013 Tesla, there were very few SuperChargers in the central part of the country and I had no expectation of the rapid expansion that occurred. I had intended to tour around the country mostly charging in RV parks.  To make the slow, 6-8 hour, RV park charging sessions less painful, I bought a tear drop trailer to provide comfortable accommodations while charging.  I failed to use the tear drop for that purpose due to two factors: pulling the tear drop reduced the range more than expected/hoped and the SuperCharger network grew a LOT faster than anticipated.  It long ago became possible to drive a Tesla essentially anywhere in the country on a series of less than one hour charging stops.  With a Maxwell RV conversion, I would likely revisit RV park charging; the Maxwell will be a LOT more comfortable than the tear drop.

 I have two Sprinter T1N vans.  One, a low medium length cargo van  which started life as a farmers market and produce delivery van.  It is used now only to haul pallets of PV panels; it will haul two pallets at a time.   Trips primarily are less than 100 miles into Austin truck terminals and back.  The cargo van has somethiing like 160k miles now.  The other is a long high camper conversion which has given me some repair problems.  It now has somewhere around 50k miles. 

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=521938040&zip=78644&referrer=%2Fcars-for-sale%2Fsearchresults.xhtml%3Fzip%3D78644%26city%3DLockhart%26maxMileage%3D200001%26incremental%3Dall%26endYear%3D2017%26modelCodeList%3DRMPROMAST%26makeCodeList%3DRAM%26listingTypes%3DUSED%26LNX%3DSPBINGNONBRANDMAKE%26sortBy%3Drelevance%26location%3D%255Bobject%2BObject%255D%26state%3DTX%26firstRecord%3D0%26marketExtension%3Dinclude%26relevanceConfig%3Ddefault%26searchRadius%3D0%26isNewSearch%3Dfalse&listingTypes=USED&numRecords=25&firstRecord=0&endYear=2017&modelCodeList=RMPROMAST&makeCodeList=RAM&searchRadius=0&makeCode1=RAM&modelCode1=RMPROMAST&clickType=listing



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