Assessment of the Performance of a Class 5 Battery Electric Commercial Truck Chassis Dynamometer Testing

Battery-electric vehicles hold significant promise for reducing emissions and fuel consumption in package delivery vehicles. To assess the benefits and operational impacts of battery-electric vehicles, the California Hybrid, Efficient and Advanced Truck (CalHEAT) research center contracted with the Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CECERT) of the University of California, Riverside’s College of Engineering to evaluate the performance and energy use of a Class 5 battery electric urban delivery vehicle over 2 standardized driving cycles and a steady state range test on a chassis dynamometer. Funding for this project was provided by the California Energy Commission. The test vehicle, a Smith Electric Newton Step Van, was tested on 2 standardized drive cycles (the Hybrid Truck Users Forum Parcel Delivery Class 4 and the Orange County Bus Cycle) and a steady state range test. Testing was carried out on the University of California, Riverside Heavy-Duty Chassis Dynamometer. Please note that due to testing site infrastructure limitations, we were not able to use the charging current recommended by Smith Electric Vehicles to recharge the Newton Step Van. Therefore, the charging times recorded in this report are longer than what one would expect at a customer site equipped with the recommended charging infrastructure. In addition, using a different charge rate may affect the charger efficiency and thus, the overall energy consumption calculated in this report may be larger than if the vehicle had been charged at the recommended charging rate. Actual electric range and overall energy consumption will vary widely with driving conditions such as drive cycle and vehicle accessories utilization. The numbers presented in this report are representative of specific drive cycles and driving conditions and were derived from testing done in a controlled environment. They should not be used to predict electric range and overall energy consumption in different driving conditions. We recommend that further testing be carried on to analyze all factors influencing actual electric range and overall energy consumption.