Is It Worth It?
So is it possible to properly maintain batteries on the ramp? Maybe a better question is: Is there a financial return on the cost of maintaining batteries on the ramp? If you haven’t guessed, I think the answer is, yes.
First, have you noticed the price of batteries lately? Commodity prices – lead, copper, and steel specifically – have pushed battery prices to record levels. We can’t think of a battery as a component of the vehicle any more; it’s an asset unto itself. And by adding a little life to a battery fleet, the cost justification of battery maintenance is easy.
Let’s start with a simple example: 15 electric vehicles and 15 batteries. All we want to do is make sure they’re watered properly and equalize charged twice per month. There are many ways to accomplish this, but in this example, the maintenance department is going to make sure one battery gets watered and equalize charged each night. The cost may be a little labor, but extending battery life is easily $10,000 in annual savings.
Let’s now look at a larger “real life” operation with about 300 pieces of electric equipment. They invested in a whole battery maintenance department, which costs an exorbitant $150,000 per year. But the increased battery life saves twice that at $300,000 per year. And that’s just the start of the savings. Think about savings in operator labor because they are no longer looking for working tractors. There’s reduced downtime and reduced battery maintenance. There’s reduced tractor maintenance because they have a high voltage batteries. And reduced lost luggage and flight delays, and improved customer satisfaction. Could the savings be $500,000? $1 Million? $5 million?
Now I have to admit that part of me doesn’t mind poor battery maintenance at all. I mean, I’m content to sell twice as many batteries as necessary. But I believe that in the long term, we can all thrive if we do the absolute best we can.
August 13th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
we recently had a visit to our battery shop at ohare from osha who put a stop on all our battery repair/replacement due to minor problem associated with osha rules. we also are in need of 13 , 72 volt batterys for me-30 tugs (aprox 20 yr old) but because of budgets and cut back we cant get funding so we let these tractors sit! we gone as long as two years between service checks on electric equipment with no problems except smoking batteries when it rains. try to convince others to purchase a tug 660e over a wasp walk behind when they shop price while we talk reliability . note: we have aprox 1000 pieces to motorized equipment at ord with maybe 300 electric pieces , we have 2 full time guys in battery shop (who the boss always wants to take out of the shop to fix diesels) and one guy on midnites watering batteries. in the past (1988) we even had a fleet(25) of fmc commmander loaders powered by a sevcon 72 volt controllers but we replaced them in 1994-because the ramp didnt like em after we updated to a cableform igbt controller . getting every one on the same page , purchasing, management, who ever seems unlikely,
August 19th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
On the same note: to save on maintenance time, look into Hydro Eye on your current batteries. This device attaches to your battery cap and give you a visual LED color code to let you know the condition of the cells. Eliminating the time is takes to open each cell to check water levels. Also, another timesavings is that Bycan Systems can manufacture custom charges that will monitor and charge automatically any requirement you may have.
August 26th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
These two battery products will save these companies even more money not only on buying less batteries and parts because of low amp & voltage problems but also greatly reduced maintenance. Watch the video’s on the web site.
September 9th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Battery De-Mister & Battery De-Sulfater will save these companies even more money not only on buying less batteries and parts because of low amp & voltage problems but also greatly reduced maintenance. Watch the video’s on these two products at http://www.batteryde-mister.com
September 9th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Jon makes a good point. Even if we can all agree that maintenance is a good investment, that doesn’t mean that there is any money to invest. We’re facing one of the worst times in the airline industry and extra funding just doesn’t exist right now. And the reality is that sometimes you have to make short-sighted decisions just to survive until tomorrow. We can only do the best we can with what we have, but let’s not stop making our case and moving closer to everyone being on the “same page.”
September 9th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Terry is recommending a product for flooded lead-acid batteries. (I also could recommend some products that improve electric performance and reduce maintenance requirements.) My point in a nutshell, however, is that technology is not a substitute for good maintenance. Also, take a look at your battery warranty before adding anything other than water.