Online regional technical lecture series will continue throughout summer.
The Society hosted another well-attended technical lecture last week as battery maintenance experts Rotronics presented on SOE’s Zoom platform.
Chief Executive Ken Clarke told the audience about how Rotronics integrates its battery maintenance programmes using testing and charging technologies Midtronics and CTEK, and how its online battery information system ROBIS can monitor performance.
Stationary vehicles being out of service for weeks during Covid-19 has created an industry-wide problem as battery voltages drop and critical issues arise. Vehicle batteries have become defective and a massive spike in the demand for replacement batteries has disrupted industry.
Ken explained that, during lockdown, critical emergency services and Public Service Vehicles (PSV) have had to remain operationally active to maximise their efficiency and prevent breakdowns and subsequent delays.
The figures are stark between batteries that needed replacing before and after Covid-19 lockdown. Only 35% of vehicles batteries required attention before lockdown compared to 48% after, according to data taken from Rotronics’ ROBIS portal.
To keep the battery in a healthy State of Charge (SOC) means maintaining a voltage above 12.5v and restoring lost power to prevent the risk of discharging. Testing every battery that enters the workshop is essential to assess the correct state of battery health while batteries can be charged when the vehicle is parked, without interruption, said Ken.
A battery management programme can extend battery life by as much as 100%, reduce breakdowns and lower costs, Ken concluded, before he answered questions from the attendees. Questions were asked about battery types for specific vehicles, exception reporting against agreed parameters and budget savings.
For more information on future online technical lectures, go to: soe.org.uk/events
To find out about Rotronics’ services, go to: rotronicsbms.com