LPG Vans and Hybrid Vehicles

The Ashwoods Automotive development of HEV/EV Battery Managment Systems (BMS) looks to be nearing its dream of being spun off into its own business (Ashwoods Energy) if it is successful at the Shell Springboard competition in Birmingham on the 1st Feb 2011. Ashwoods Automotive has developed its own Battery Managment Technology for its award winning Ashwoods Hybrid Drive system. With over 700,000 miles of vehicle and system data Ashwoods have further developed and improved upon their BMS to allow them to get more performance and stability from their 72v Lithium-ion battery. Mark Roberts MD of Ashwoods Automotive said “The interest we have received in our in BMS solutions strongly suggests that it should be a stand alone product. We were forced into developing our own BMS, for our Hybrid Technology, since there was no commercially available BMS that could balance and managed the cells during the demanding hybrid drive cycle. The Shell Springboard funding will provide the finance to launch Ashwoods Energy, a dedicated company focusing on BMS Solutions. Ashwoods will find out on the 1st February in Birmingham after a pitch if it has been successful in winning one of the £40,000 prizes.

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Article from boston.com

The black Lincoln Town Car that Tod Hynes has been driving around Boston looks exactly like the sort of sedan that would ferry a well-paid executive to Logan. But under the hood and stashed in the trunk is a system that has turned the gas-guzzler into a hybrid, nudging down its gas consumption.
Hynes, the president of Somerville-based XL Hybrids Inc., says the company is focused on retrofitting vehicles for customers who “drive a lot of miles in low mile-per-gallon vehicles”; He says that the company’s pilot vehicles have been demonstrating a 10 to 15 percent savings in fuel costs, and that the first commercially-retrofitted cars – they will mainly be Lincoln Town Cars – will save owners 20 to 30 percent a year.
XL (the name stands for “extra large vehicles”) is announcing this week that it has raised $2 million in new funding, and signed a licensing agreement with Ashwoods Automotive Ltd. in Britain, the company that makes the retrofit kit that XL will adapt for use in the States. Ashwoods has been retrofitting Ford vans in Europe with its kit (about 150 are now on the road), and XL has adapted the Ashwoods kit for use in sedans, with light-duty vans to follow soon. XL had previously raised $1.8 million in convertible debt from angel investors; one of its backers is the Massachusetts Green Energy Fund, which has invested $300,000 in the company.
“Some of these livery companies that own Town Cars have $20,000 fuel bills per vehicle, per year; Hynes says.”But the economics of doing the conversion can give them a two-year payback, even just assuming they’re doing 60,000 miles a year in a car
The kit adds an array of lithium ion batteries to capture energy that would ordinarily be lost in braking; an electric motor to return that energy to the wheels during acceleration; and an anti-idling system that allows certain accessories (like heat or air conditioning) to run for extended periods without leaving the engine on. “You don’t need high-tech tools to install it, or much training; Hynes says. “The retrofit can be done in a standard garage; While Hynes doesn’t want to talk prices, co-founder Justin Ashton told the Globe last year that the kit will cost less than $10,000.
Initially, XL will be doing the conversions at its Union Square garage and headquarters, though Hynes says the eventual goal is to develop a network of partners around the country that can install the retrofit kits. In Britain, he says, Ashwoods can perform the conversion in less than four hours.
Hynes says that XL is focused on converting vehicles that get fewer than 20 miles per gallon (a Town Car travelling city streets may get about thirteen), and is interested in selling mainly to companies that operate large fleets, as opposed to individuals. While Hynes acknowledges that as more and more hybrids and electric vehicles are sold, there may be decreased demand for conversion, he believes conversion is “a fifteen year opportunity.” He also suggests that the company has future plans related to connecting electric vehicles and hybrids to the electrical grid.
Founded in 2009, XL has 11 full-time employees, with plans to hire another five auto technicians and engineers this year.

Ashwoods Automotive this afternoon was shortlisted for the Energy Saving Trust Fleet Hero Awards 2010 for Innovation in Car & Van Manufacture. The UK’s largest supplier and manufacturer of low emission technology for Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV’s) has already been announced as the Fastest Growing Cleantech Company in Europe this year. Mark Roberts, CEO of Ashwoods has said “It is great to be nominated in such a competitive catergory with Citroen and Volkswagen, we look forward to the winners being announced in February”.

Ashwoods has made it into the Top 25 of the fastest growing Cleantech Companies in Europe. At an awards event in last night Ashwoods was ranked No. 1 in this prestigious green technology growth chart. Ashwoods is the UK’s largest supplier of Hybrid Commercial Vehicles and Low Emission Technology

Mark Roberts, Ashwoods MD said ” We are thrilled to have made the Cleantech Connect Top 25 and then to go on and be ranked No. 1. , Ashwoods inclusion in this well respected list of European Greentech businesses is down to the rapid growth the businees has experienced over the past 2 years from our sale of our low emission products”.

You can read more about Cleantech Connect and Ashwoods Automotive being ranked No. 1 by clicking here.

Today Ashwoods delivered 10 Ashwoods Hybrid Transit Vans to Royal Mail. The vehicles are scheduled to go into service from the 27th September in and around the London area. The vehicles are part of the Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Programme (LCVPP), run by Cenex, and Ashwoods are pleased to be working with such a high profile customer. Mark Roberts, Managing Director of Ashwoods said “We are delighted to be supplying our vehicles to such a high profile fleet customer and this demonstrates that the technology is suitable for even the most demanding drive cycles in the fleet industry”.

Ashwoods has been nominted for the IT Innovation award for the development and commercialisation of the Ashwoods Fuel Logger.

The Ashwoods Data Logger: Conveniently housed in the sun visor the Ashwoods Data Logger is a GSM based device that fits neatly into the sun visor. Fuel data is sent instantly to the Ashwoods website, where customers can securely login and track the “true MPG” achieved for each vehicle within their fleet. It rivals any other telematics and telemetry provider in the commercial vehicle industry by taking actual fuel filled data and total mileage.

Currently the system is being used by over 100 vehicles in the public sector with strong interest and further orders for over 500 units next year.

The systems ease of use has led members of the LCV industry to say that as a stand alone product it allows them to monitor their fleets in a fashion that reduces fuel theft, unauthorised personal mileage and increases operational availability and ease of servicing through mileage logging.

The system was developed in house by Ashwoods and all major components and manufacturing takes place in Exeter at Hybrid House.

The ADL is just one of many products being developed and commercialised at Ashwoods Automotive.

The Greenfleet 2010 Awards took place on the 7th October at the Emirates Stadium in London.

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The Scottish Government has announced the Low Carbon Procurement Support Scheme (LCVPSS) on 16th June 2010. Originally the scheme was only open to all-electric vehicles but it has now been extended to cover hybrid commercial vehicles, such as the Ashwoods Hybrid Transit, as well. 

The scheme will make £3.6m avaialble to Community Planning Partnerships to provide financial support to the procurement of low carbon vehicle. The scheme will provide financial support to bridge the cost gap between a conventional vehicle and its low carbon counterparts.

Ashwoods Hybrid vehicles have proved a huge success in the Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Programme (LCVPP) run by Cenex, where they make up 137 of the 200 vehicles supplied. Customer feedback has been excellent as the vehicles have an exemplary reliability record and no loss in performance or operational effectiveness to a standard Ford Transit.

Ashwoods are the UKs leading supplier of hybrid commercial vehicles.

Ashwoods has won the Technology Award in the 2010 Van Fleet World Honours. The trophy was presented at a special ceremony held at the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall on Tuesday 18^th May.

The Fleet World Honours are presented annually to those motor manufacturers, service companies and individuals who have, in the opinion of the judges, achieved the highest possible level of excellence in their sector.

The judging panel is chaired by Steve Moody, Editor of Fleet World, and includes Ken Rogers, Natalie Wallis, John Kendall and Ross Durkin from the Fleet World editorial team. Residual value, maintenance cost and reliability data is provided by ALD Automotive, Masterlease, Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions and ING Car Lease. Market value data is provided by EurotaxGlass and CDL Vehicle Information Services.

Submissions for the Fleet Manager Awards are received from the Energy Saving Trust, RoadSafe and the Institute for Car Fleet Management.

Van Fleet World Editor, John Kendall, said: ‘Four companies were named as approved suppliers to the first phase of the Department for Transport’s Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Programme in mid 2009. The first phase involves a trial of more than 100 “low carbon” and electric vans. The only successful “low carbon” bidder was Ashwoods, whose bolt-on hybrid conversion recorded carbon dioxide reductions better than 14 per cent in independent tests.

‘At a time when organisations cannot afford to ignore either the cost of running a fleet – or its impact on the environment – innovations such as this represent a genuine step forward in vehicle technology and offer fleet managers the opportunity to make a real difference in their way of operating.’

Commenting on the high standard of entries to this year’s awards, Fleet World Managing Editor, Ross Durkin, said: ‘The fleet industry is emerging from a period of economic uncertainty in a very strong shape indeed. As well as the impressive list of new cars and vans that have recently come to market, we have also seen tremendous innovation and investment from the fleet services sector. Anyone looking in on the fleet industry from the outside world could not fail to be impressed with how well it has put its house in order, despite the recent economic downturn.’

1 APRIL 2010 – Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions is supporting Liverpool City Council (LCC) in a trial of hybrid technology by supplying four Ashwoods Hybrid Transit Vans under contract hire. LCC is trialling the vehicles through the Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Programme (LCVPP), which enables chosen public sector organisations to test out environmental technologies in a real world setting.

Managed by Cenex on behalf of the Department for Transport, the LCVPP provides participating public sector organisations with access to a central fund of £20m to compensate for the extra cost of acquiring alternatively-fuelled vehicles. These are provided to LCVPP participants from a bank of preferred suppliers, of which Ashwoods is the only supplier of diesel/electric hybrid commercial vehicles.

Supplied as Hybrid Transit Vans, the Ashwoods vehicles will be supported over a three year period with funding from Hitachi Capital. The Ashwoods Hybrid Technology uses a system similar to a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), as seen in Formula 1, to recover the energy normally wasted through braking and deceleration to charge the battery. This energy is then used to assist the drive of the vehicle during acceleration. This reduces the engine load and therefore the fuel demand.  The system is very well suited to the needs of a local city council where vehicles will be operating in heavier traffic conditions. 

During the first phase of the trial, LCC will be required to provide qualitative and quantitative feedback on the operation of the Ashwoods Hybrid Transits. Each time the fuel cap is opened, drivers will need to enter data into an emissions meter fitted in the vehicle which will enable analysis and reporting on the fuel costs, mileage and mpg of each vehicle. Ashwoods Hybrid Transits are expected to report an estimated 15 per cent saving on standard vehicle emissions.

John Carrington, Fleet & Transport Services Manager, Liverpool City Council, says: “It has always been a priority for the city council to find ways of reducing the carbon output of the fleet, but the cost of adopting new technologies can be prohibitive. Access to the LCVPP fund, in addition to the leasing support from Hitachi Capital, has given us an unprecedented opportunity to pioneer this new sustainable technology with minimal financial risk.”

“Leasing companies are traditionally wary of largely unproven technologies like hybrid-power, but we were very keen to partner with Ashwoods to offer leasing as a funding alternative,” explains Jon Lawes, Divisional Managing Director, Hitachi Capital Commercial Vehicle Services. “Innovation is vital in the development of low carbon vehicles, and we are very pleased to be a part of the LCVPP programme.”

There is potential for the LCVPP to receive a further £30m worth of funding for phase two of the trials, should the early results prove successful.

About Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions

Based in Newbury, Berkshire, with over 27 years’ experience, Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions is a division of Hitachi Capital (UK) PLC, part of Hitachi Ltd, one of the world’s largest and most respected groups. We combine technology with market leading customer service to offer the full spectrum of tailor-made fleet finance and fleet management services including all forms of funding, maintenance management, accident management and daily rental management. The company operates a specialist commercial vehicle services division from Trowbridge and the Driving Instructor Centre from Leicester, the UK’s leading supplier of contract hire to the driving instruction market. Hitachi Capital Vehicle Service’s 46,000 vehicles range from cars, small, medium and large vans to HGVs with specialist ancillary equipment such as cranes and tail lifts. In the industry’s Landmark Survey, Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions has achieved the highest Customer Satisfaction Index score overall since 1998. http://www.hitachicapitalvehiclesolutions.co.uk/. www.drivinginstructorcentre.com.

About Ashwoods

Ashwoods Automotive Ltd is a unique low emission technology development company with over 10 years experience in the industry. Ashwoods pride themselves on developing innovative technologies that have a place in the market and that are in line with customer needs. Ashwoods’ selection as the supplier of over 100 hybrid vehicles to the LCVPP clearly demonstrates their respected position within the industry.

Due to strong market demand, Ashwoods are offering a limited run of 150 hybrid vans, outside of the LCVPP, for sale to major Private Sector fleets over the course of 2010.

Ashwoods continue to invest in more advanced Hybrid and Electric vehicle technology development and in January 2010 started work on a 3 year collaborative Research and Development project funded by the Technology Strategy Board.

http://ashwoods.org           0845 641 0716

About Liverpool City Council

Liverpool City Council is a three star authority which employs around 16,000 people.  It serves more than 450,000 residents and 14,000 businesses with an average council tax of £1,519.14 at band D.  The city council, which delivered the most successful European Capital of Culture programme in 2008, is now working with various organisations to promote the city at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 from May until October.

For more information, go to http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/.

Ashwoods Automotive has been awarded a 3-year Technology Strategy Board (TSB) funded £1.8 million Research and Development project. The high-profile consortium will be lead by Ashwoods and joined by Citroen UK, Sevcon and LifeBATT, with the purpose of developing advanced scalable hybrid and electric power train systems. Read about Ashwoods hybrid development projects here