Deciding on work vehicle
 

I started an all electric lawn mowing business this year and I'm looking at getting a dedicated vehicle for it. So far I've been using either: my ebike with a cargo trailer, my converted electric motorcycle (yeah, don't ask how), or a Ford Focus.

I need to get more "professional" looking, mostly just so I can get some advertising out of my time driving from job to job. The business is just me, and I use about a total of 200lbs in equipment for a full days work (push mower, trimmer, blower, batteries, and hand tools).
The mission statement of my business is:
"Efficient Venture’s goal is to provide home owners and property managers with a lawn maintenance service that drastically reduces air, water and noise pollution, while offering competitive rates and excellent customer service."

That's what I believe in. I'm also, personally, very MrMoneyMustache-like - I'm very careful about expenses. My service area has me doing about 30 miles on a "big" day (6 hours). Up to 40 miles max. I need to be able to travel at 55mph minimum, ideally 65mph (assume no trailer).

With that said, I am having a hard time deciding on what vehicle to buy. I thought I was set on a 2nd gen Prius, with an attached rear cargo carrier, or possibly a small trailer for large cleanup/leaf jobs. I would remove the rear seats and any unnecessary material behind the front seats to maximize cargo area and reduce weight.

Consider: I don't use any gasoline equipment so carrying it inside the car is not an issue. I don't use a 300-500lb commercial mower. I'm building my own 40" cut at under 100lbs.

Now you may be saying - electric truck! Well, I actually looked at one recently. With lead batteries it was 4300lbs and had an unknown issue. Reliability of a converted truck is questionable it seems, even the ones manufactured by Ford/GM back in the 90s.

In a perfect world there would be a 10 yr old used Prius truck or minivan. I'm okay with getting 60mpg in a SULEV (super ultra low emission vehicle), it doesn't need to be 100% electric.

But I am hesistant to just buy a 22mpg small gas pickup. Maybe I could eek 30mpg out of a manual with strict hypermiling around town.

I have this mental budget of $4000 tops, hopefully closer to 3.

Would a Nissan Leaf work if you take out the rear bench?
A run down Leaf seems to be your only option moneywise, if you also want high MPG/electric.
In Europe the choice would be a small diesel minivan like a Renault Kangoo. Even the gas version gets decent economy, but nowhere near hypermiler territory.

I'm not sure a Leaf will have enough cargo room, and it seems the cheapest ones out there are ~6500. Would have to buy a salvaged one at an auction. It's still a thought. When I test drove a new one in 2012, it was a pretty sweet ride.

With something like this to load the mower on, would something like a Civic hatch back or sedan work?http://b.cdnbrm.com/images/products/...o_carriers.jpg
You could even remove all of the seats to have more room. You could get good mileage and have a low purchase price.

BTW, I think running a green lawn care business is a cool idea. Depending on where you live I could see a lot of people wanting to support that.

I'd try to stick with an EV to be consistent with your electric theme, which probably means installing a hitch on a Leaf, and maybe waiting a little longer for prices to come down, or to find one with a reconstructed title.

The Prius is a great car, and I have a hitch on mine along with a 4 x 8 trailer. I wouldn't remove the seats though. The rear bench is litterally 2 pounds. The seatbacks fold forward nicely to provide a flat surface to put equipment. You'll want a rubber mat to keep grass clippings from being ground into the carpeting.

I'd still rather see you in a Leaf because the amount of fuel used in lawn mowing is a tiny fraction of what would be used to drive a Prius to the site. It defeats the point of electric mowing.

In the lawn car business I think you are going to need at least a small pickup and maybe a trailer to be competitive or even taken seriously.
An electric truck would be pretty cool even if you can't get an electric truck now.

So what powers your lawn care implements?
Hi voltage AC utility power supplied by the customer or do you use low voltage battery powered tools?

If you use battery powered stuff I'm thinking truck with solar panels.
Solar panels would not be cost effective at all for suppling drive power for tools but it would be a major attention getter.

I think you need to do a cost analysis of the fuel cost and maintenance cost of each vehicle. Your fuel costs are going to be incredibly low.

Electric would be nice, but i think the prius is the best bet if the cargo space is big enough.

Buy an old Prius, and convert it to a pickup?

Thinking on this a bit more, you'll likely want a truck if you plan to grow the business at all. Maybe someone wants you to mulch their flower beds? Or run an aerator on their yard? Till their garden? Haul away sticks?

I was thinking that the whole way through the thread. There are several examples on Google.

I would go with a Prius with truck conversion and/or trailer until Leafs drop in price a little more. Your typical work day will have you using around a half gallon of gas a day while producing a fraction of the emissions most gas lawn equipment would produce. You could even charge your equipment's batteries fairly efficiently if necessary.

I have a similar cargo rack as pictured above. Yes, that is a likely setup with a car.

As for the gasoline burned in a Prius, yes I may burn up to a half gallon a day, which would power a gas mower for a few hours. BUT, there is a very big difference in emissions from a Prius and a lawn mower. The Prius is a SULEV as stated above. Carbon coming out may be the same as when burned in a mower, but the dirty bad stuff is waaay less. Small gas engines are horrible polluters concerning carcinogens and other nasty particles. This is the basis for why I believe so much in electric yard tools.

I use all battery equipment. Most of my batteries are older, from ebike use, all lithium. I charge about half the time from my tiny rooftop solar panel I built, and the other from the wall which is effectively TX wind power generated. I never use the customers electricity.

If I did get a truck, I would possibly mount some solar panels I recently got as the attention grabber stated above. Yes, not cost effective with new panels and controller, but good advertising. Also would help boost how many yards I can do in a day.

I've read about a guy on Prius chat who did convert one to a truck. Seems like a ton of work and some real challenges to overcome. It still would be neat.

All of this is still leading me to using a 2nd gen Prius with cargo rack in back, and a trailer for those cleanup days. It is easily the most efficient gas vehicle and 3x better than any truck in the city. I can't feel bad about that.

Today I used my ebike for some nearby jobs. I had someone ask for my card while I was stopped at a yard sale. (I have signs on the bike too). Sometimes I get fans while stopped at a red light. But yes, I understand a bike and trailer makes me less professional looking.

I think a Prius with a nice graphic wrap job with my business info would look professional. I am not a conventional business model, so I think it's okay to be a little different. It's better than riding around in a dirty old beat up pickup as I see many mowing guys do.

One other thing - I could possible integrate my emotorcycle battery into a Prius to get more EV mileage, possible 15-20 if I stay on slow streets. Many days, that is as far as I go. (It's 70v, 60ah Leaf modules. I would probably get a convertor to keep the hybrid battery at it's 60% mark. I think I heard about people making the Prius run in ev mode longer?)

You are right, I've thought about this. I did just buy a wood chipper to reduce volume of branches and will build a leaf shredder. That's sort of where a trailer would come in handy. I know I'm limited to about 1500lbs if towing with a Prius. So I would give up the ability to most stone landscaping, sod, or other heavy work.

My business model does give up some things though. I just can't see driving a full size truck and trailer, getting 10mpg every day.

There's the Enginer plug-in kit for the Prius. I've read mixed reviews about them and I don't know if they sell them anymore. I think most of the issues were battery and BMS related, so if you just used their converter with a solid battery, you should be ok. I would check ebay and PriusChat's for sale section for a used setup.

Must be some small yards. And given the heat of Texas summer I'd want AC. While it may be high price, one of the small Ford Transit vans would be ideal, IMO. Can pull a trailer behind it for clean up work, and in the meantime, tools and such are locked away inside.

Today's gas vehicles are neatly silent and unbelievably clean emissions wise. I would think customers would appreciate you are working your way towards a business vehicle perfectly suited.

In the meantime, I'd use the idea that even on a humid day that your service is unaccompanied by noise or fumes.

The interesting thing about the Prius is it can also be used as a gasoline generator with a plug out conversion kit (still far quieter and less polutey than a standard genset). That could save your bacon if you find yourself without site power and one battery charge short of completing the job. In fact you could probably charge a few batteries off the Prius HV battery without need for the ICE at all.

Buy an all aluminium trailer, the Prius is only intended to carry 800lbs all up (driver and cargo). Alu trailers in a 6x4 start from around 160lbs.

I've thought about converting my Prius for work as well, but I'd go with something more like the Prius camper:

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=p...KcWq0gTG-Z24BQ

But a bit less extreme.

The Prius is probably the most recognizable eco-friendly car to most people. It might be the right choice for an unconventional lawn care business if it can haul everything you need. An EV-converted pickup would be more practical, but you would look just like every other lawn care business.

The lady that sold me the dirt said it was 1800 lbs per yard. The Prius handled it fine, although it was slow to accelerate.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...m/IMG_2407.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...m/IMG_2405.jpg

This sounds like an awesome idea! What area of Austin are you in? (Don't need my lawn mowed though... I'm also a mustachian)

Central, centered around 78751. Message me if you'd like to meet up.

I can tow 200lbs with my 75lb ebike which has rim brakes. I'd like to think an automobile could tow a minimum of 2000lbs without problems assuming the driver is cautious and has reasonable expectations.

Not necessarily disagreeing with this but, i once saw a ford ranger pulling a 40' fifth wheel trailer full of double stacked round hay bales. Anything can pull anything, stop and control it? ...maybe not. Not sure what the fine is for being over the plate rating, especially with what would be a commercial vehicle.

Saw this truck on my way home from work today. Looks pretty similar to what you are looking to do.

http://cleanairlawncarecorvallis.com...nt-590x186.jpg

They are a franchise. I asked for a quote for my lawn and never got a response. Not a bad idea, yes they are similar. I wonder how much extra fuel that roof rack is causing to be burned when they go above 50mph. If I mount solar PV, it will not be sticking out like that. Ideally my routes are so dense that I never need to go on the highway, but I can't be that picky while trying to build up my customer base.

Based on where I live, I'm guessing that they don't need to drive above 35mph to get to most of their clients. I was surprised that they they didn't pick a more fuel efficient vehicle though.

A small utility trailer, yes- but enclose it. Conduit, coroplast and maybe some fiberglassing if you want to get really fancy. You'll get a cleaner look and better aero for not too much money. Instant billboard (and roof at Prius height with a blatant solar panel) too, and standing out visibly without looking like the company that can't even afford a truck.

Although I won't disagree with your EV truck reliability statement I really love
Kei trucks, of which there are a few legal examples, one guy in California has a street legal 6 speed dual range manual diahatsu hijet in Cali that came from the parks department.
The Miles zx40st truck although unreliable is very cheap and very simple, it can easily be converted to a diesel by the right person or reprogrammed for speed if you keep it electric. The st is not a kei truck, 5ft wide but with a 9ft bed!
Some examples have sold for $500.

The miles zx40 cargo van may be big enough for your stuff and again is very cheap and 100% interchangeable with the stateside daihatsu charade 1liter car.
Again easy drivetrain swap to a daihatsu charade 5speed 1 liter gasser, 40mph cargo van.

If you are looking more conventional a Prius V might be big enough inside to go trailerless.

If you plan on having a trailer no matter what
1. Gen1 insight
2. Volt (used they are just as cheap as a Prius)
3. Prius lift back.

Also domestic there are class vw rabibit diesel pickups 50mpg all day
Ditto Subaru 360 sambar pickups, 50mpg all day and street legal and just cool.

Yeah I know my choices / suggestions are odd but if you have mechanical skills you could have a much more memorable ride that grabs attention in of itself making folks notice your advertising.

Also if towing with something that does not normally tow, pay a few bucks for a weight distribution hitch and trailer brakes.
From personal experience if you have those two things you can give the middle finger to the safety idiots since it will then always pull straight, never fishtail and always stop.
Best upgrades I've made and in my mind should be standard equipment.

So you think a truck would make you look more "professional"...

Take a look at this thread and get inspired: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...wap-33459.html

2nd-hand Prius w/ reciever hitch for platform or trailer >> long wheelbase/tandem axle pickup conversion >> electric dump bed. Pay as you go from business profits.

I was in a landscaping cooperative in 19-mumble-mumble. We had a 1954 International with a 3/4 ton flatbed with side racks and a hydraulic dump. It's very important because when you are hauling bulk materials it halves the work.

It could be made from an aluminum trailer box of the appropriate width.Solar panel side racks hinged on the top could flip up so the one on the off side could catch light as well.

So I've been using a custom mower rack on my hitch for the last few weeks and really like it. I have a folding ramp that comes down off the right and if I park well, lands on the curb for a very shallow incline. It makes loading and unloading my mower super easy and fast. With this setup, I have no desire for a truck or trailer for my mowing jobs. I still may eventually get a trailer, but not sure it's needed if I just bag yard debris and leave at the curb for city pick up. The trailer would be useful if I do landscaping, but I don't want to rely on it every day.

A hatchback car is all that is needed for the rest of my tools. I would consider a Volt, but they still seem quite a bit more expensive than a 2nd gen Prius. Same with a Leaf, which I am more Interested in than I was before. A new one can be bought for 11,500 with this group buy deal and fed rebate. If only I was in the market for a vehicle in that price range....

Still I'm hoping to find a Prius with minor rear damage at the auction site. Would have to apply for a rebuilt title.

My rear rack setup is faster than any other pro setup. Fast no hassle parking, unload in 15 seconds. Highest mps.

I saw you around town in the Focus a couple weeks ago. That's a good-looking, rather distinctive car.

So I bought an 04 Prius this week. I got a pretty good deal and it seems to be a good shape.

I removed the rear seats and some of the metal brackets/seat belts, as well as the silly cargo cover and heavy trunk mat. That was 65lbs, or 2% reduction.

I ordered a hitch on Amazon, will be installing it as soon as it arrives so I can start using it for work, carrying my lawn mower.

My question now is, what's the best method to apply a few hundred watt hours of battery storage to the car? I have some old, nearly useless lithium ebike batteries (24-48v range). If I'm doing 20 miles a day, I can effectively improve mpg by 5% with a 250wh battery supply. I may eventually use my large 3.5kwh Leaf battery, but want to start small.

Do I find a dc-dc convertor that will change 26v to 200v? I don't think there is anything readily available like that. What about suppling the 12v system? There must be a step down dc converter in the car that takes the 200v down to 12v for all the little electronics, and headlights, etc? Does it use the 12v battery as a buffer? I could easily send my power to that then.

Overall it may not sound worth it to many people. At 50mpg and $2 gas, it's only 4 cents a mile. And 10cents/kwh and 250wh/mile, that's 2.5 cents a mile for a savings of 1.5 cents a mile. For my average of 20 miles a day. I would be doing it more for the satisfaction of achieving a higher mpg. And making some use out of my 'useless' batteries sitting at home.

I also wouldn't mind adding a small solar PV panel, but weight and aero may make it prohibitive. I have two 120watt panels, but I think they are 40lbs each :eek: My parking spot at home gets a LOT of sun (I will want to shade it soon, to protect from heat). I am happy that the car already has fairly dark tints which is something I really wanted with all the hot sun we get in Austin. Also why I was set on the silver color.

As for other mods, I'll probably do aero hub caps, rear wheel skirts, some underbody smoothing with choroplast, windshield wiper blade shield, and maybe partially enclose my rear cargo rack with clear plexiglass for a partial boat tail. That aero work is obviously with more of an eye towards my highway driving and road trips. The intent is to make improvements with little or zero cost other than my time.

Another idea I have is a mechanical lever (bicycle shifter/cable) set to depress the accelerator at exactly the correct amount for "glide" mode (no transmission of power either direction). One nice thing about my driving is that I'm already doing a lot of 25-40mph around town due to traffic. Great opportunity to hypermile a bit and take advantage of the hybrid system. (lots of sitting stopped too).

I'm really excited that I finally have an efficient hybrid. It is very satisfying to have regen and not be idling needlessly.