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Home My WebLink AboutRE: Ride TFT hybrid batteries (2) Mike Plane From:Maxine Durand Sent:Wednesday, September 13, 2023 09:10 To:Norm Hatke; Neil Mandis; Mandi Thompson Cc:Ben Hall; Gary wilson; Mike Peterson; Gretchen Scott; Joey Butt Subject:RE: Ride TFT hybrid batteries Good morning Norm, welcome back! This all makes a lot of sense. We should definitely set aside some time to meet and get everyone together to figure out logistics, but I would be interested in hearing more about the plans for the reconstruct you mentioned. The last thing I want to do is take advantage of the shop or cause schedule conflicts with other work you’re doing, especially since our ridership has exploded and we’re going to have to figure out how to manage our growth. Do you have some time for a chat next week so I can pick your brain and ask some questions? Thank you, Maxine Durand Transit Coordinator City of Twin Falls (208) 735-7347 mdurand@tfid.org From: Norm Hatke <NHatke@tfid.org> Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2023 8:39 AM To: Neil Mandis <nmandis@ridedowntowner.com>; Maxine Durand <mdurand@tfid.org>; Mandi Thompson <mthompson@tfid.org> Cc: Ben Hall <bhall@tfid.org>; Gary wilson <gwilson@tfid.org>; Mike Peterson <mpeterson@ridedowntowner.com>; Gretchen Scott <Gscott@tfid.org>; Joey Butt <jbutt@tfid.org> Subject: RE: Ride TFT hybrid batteries I’m back!! After reading the email chain below, here are my thoughts.  This is not a warranty concern.  This is “sort of” a maintenance concern, however it would fall under operator duties and not maintenance personnel.  I was not aware until recently that these were “plug in hybrid” vehicles and have been trying to think of a solution for charging them. I talked with one of the drivers today and was told that all the dash monitors in all the hybrid vans have been at 1% for quite some time. After doing some research I have discovered that these vans will need to be charged overnight, frequently. 1  I am quite amazed that we haven’t seen issues sooner than we have. Low battery voltage can cause all kinds of crazy issues that are generally solved by charging the battery. This is true regardless of the vehicle is hybrid or not.  I talked to some folks at the Dodge dealership, and they advised that they have seen this issue, although infrequently and that it is almost always solved with a little education on how the vehicle works. Here is a link to a website with a pretty good explanation. Does The Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Charge While Driving? (vehq.com) It’s not a hyper-link so you will need to copy and paste it to your browser. So, the long and short of the issue is going to be WHERE are we going to charge the vehicles and when. I have a suspicion that they are going to require regular charging to optimize the hybrid system to its full potential and keep the battery charged. We will accommodate the charging process as we have room, but I think this will need to be a bigger conversation especially with the reconstruct that is about to take place at our facility. Neil is correct. He and I had a conversation about bringing it to us for all minor concerns because of the time it takes to move it through the dealership. If it’s something simple, we can just take care of it and they will pay our time. If we deem it something “more” we will send it to the dealer. Any additional thoughts? Regards, Norm Hatke Fleet Maintenance Supervisor City of Twin Falls th 152 6 ave. W Twin Falls, ID 83301 Ph. 208-736-2276 nhatke@tfid.org From: Neil Mandis <nmandis@ridedowntowner.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 6, 2023 3:43 PM To: Mandi Thompson <mthompson@tfid.org> Cc: Ben Hall <bhall@tfid.org>; Maxine Durand <mdurand@tfid.org>; Mike Peterson <mpeterson@ridedowntowner.com>; Norm Hatke <NHatke@tfid.org> Subject: Re: Ride TFT hybrid batteries \[EXTERNAL SENDER\] Thank you Ben. Neil Mandis Operations Manager Ride Twin Falls Transport On Wed, Sep 6, 2023, 10:19 AM Mandi Thompson <mthompson@tfid.org> wrote: 2 Thanks Ben! Mandi Thompson Assistant to the City Manager City of Twin Falls (208) 735-7237 From: Ben Hall <bhall@tfid.org> Sent: Wednesday, September 6, 2023 10:18 AM To: Mandi Thompson <mthompson@tfid.org>; Neil Mandis <nmandis@ridedowntowner.com> Cc: Maxine Durand <mdurand@tfid.org>; Mike Peterson <mpeterson@ridedowntowner.com>; Norm Hatke <NHatke@tfid.org> Subject: RE: Ride TFT hybrid batteries I just got back from a test drive, I went to the visitors center to see if the tesla chargers would accept the vans and they are a different style. During the drive I tested the windows, monitored the status of the vehicle and paid attention to the transmission shifting and found nothing out of the ordinary. The key fob is back in the lock box and is ready to be driven again. Let us know if there is something else that comes up with this one and if we have the tooling to diagnose it we will. As of right now, I think we need to wait for Norm to get back next Tuesday and we can set up a meeting concerning logistics for charging the hybrid batteries. Thank you for your time, Ben From: Mandi Thompson <mthompson@tfid.org> Sent: Wednesday, September 6, 2023 9:04 AM To: Ben Hall <bhall@tfid.org>; Neil Mandis <nmandis@ridedowntowner.com> Cc: Maxine Durand <mdurand@tfid.org>; Mike Peterson <mpeterson@ridedowntowner.com>; Norm Hatke <NHatke@tfid.org> Subject: RE: Ride TFT hybrid batteries 3 Thanks Ben. I really appreciate it. Mandi Thompson Assistant to the City Manager City of Twin Falls (208) 735-7237 From: Ben Hall <bhall@tfid.org> Sent: Wednesday, September 6, 2023 9:03 AM To: Mandi Thompson <mthompson@tfid.org>; Neil Mandis <nmandis@ridedowntowner.com> Cc: Maxine Durand <mdurand@tfid.org>; Mike Peterson <mpeterson@ridedowntowner.com>; Norm Hatke <NHatke@tfid.org> Subject: RE: Ride TFT hybrid batteries I definitely think Norm needs to be a part of the conversation. My main concern is where they will be able to charge the batteries. We will be happy to accommodate for the time being, at least until Norm gets back from vacation but that may not always be an option. Norm will be back on Tuesday, 9/12/23 and we can set something up then. An update on number 6, we have the hybrid battery charged and it will need to be test driven to see if there is another underlying issue. I will take it for a test drive and see if I can recreate anything it was doing when the driver showed me that video and get back to you. Thank you, Ben From: Mandi Thompson <mthompson@tfid.org> Sent: Wednesday, September 6, 2023 8:40 AM To: Neil Mandis <nmandis@ridedowntowner.com> Cc: Maxine Durand <mdurand@tfid.org>; Mike Peterson <mpeterson@ridedowntowner.com>; Ben Hall <bhall@tfid.org>; Norm Hatke <NHatke@tfid.org> Subject: Re: Ride TFT hybrid batteries 4 Maybe we all need to sit down and figure out what the shop can and cannot accommodate. They can charge accordingly. Norm is out of the office for a few weeks which might explain some of this. Get Outlook for iOS From: Neil Mandis <nmandis@ridedowntowner.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 5, 2023 7:39:06 PM To: Mandi Thompson <mthompson@tfid.org> Cc: Maxine Durand <mdurand@tfid.org>; Mike Peterson <mpeterson@ridedowntowner.com>; Ben Hall <bhall@tfid.org>; Norm Hatke <NHatke@tfid.org> Subject: Re: FW: Ride TFT hybrid batteries \[EXTERNAL SENDER\] I apologize for the delay I have been sick and slow to mend. I emailed Norm last night warning him of the issues with van six and asked him for help. Obviously not knowing he was on vacation. Charging the batteries is definitely going to fall under maintenance. But I was under the impression I could ask the shop for assistance with anything, regardless of it being warranty or maintenance. Trying to get into the dealer for warranty work can be days and days with a vehicle down. Which would only make sense in the most extreme of situations. This exact situation the van would more than likely still be down waiting to get into Dodge for diagnosis, only to find out the hybrid batteries needed charged. Which would have resulted in a diag charge from Dodge as well as the van being out of use for however many days. But if asking the shop to help with this kind of maintenance is out of the question let me know and I can start sending them to another shop. I honestly was just looking for the quickest possible resolution to the problem and keeping the vans on the road. Neil Mandis Operations Manager Ride Twin Falls Transport On Tue, Sep 5, 2023, 1:29 PM Mandi Thompson <mthompson@tfid.org> wrote: I am thinking this is a warranty issue that needs to be addressed with the dealer rather than the shop since we are really only planning on routine maintenance. Regardless sounds like there is an issue with #6. Mandi Thompson Assistant to the City Manager City of Twin Falls (208) 735-7237 5 From: Gretchen Scott <Gscott@tfid.org> Sent: Tuesday, September 5, 2023 12:12 PM To: Maxine Durand <mdurand@tfid.org>; Mandi Thompson <mthompson@tfid.org> Subject: FW: Ride TFT hybrid batteries Good afternoon, Please review the message below. Norm is on vacation this week. You can reply to the group or I can relay a message for you. Thank you, Gretchen From: Ben Hall <bhall@tfid.org> Sent: Tuesday, September 5, 2023 11:55 AM To: Gretchen Scott <Gscott@tfid.org> Cc: Norm Hatke <NHatke@tfid.org>; Joey Butt <jbutt@tfid.org>; Jared Grimm <JGrimm@tfid.org>; Gary wilson <gwilson@tfid.org> Subject: Ride TFT hybrid batteries Hello Gretchen, We had one of the TFT drivers come in this morning asking if we could look into some things that number 6 was doing yesterday. He has a video on it with some details but we took a quick look at it and found that the hybrid battery was discharged to less than 1%. We pulled it into the shop to let it charge overnight because it is estimated to take about 14 hours. I’m wondering who I need to contact so they know that they will need to monitor the battery life and recharge as needed. 6 I know we won’t always be able to bring them in to charge, but is this something we need to accommodate for, or is this something they will need to figure out when and where to charge? Please let me know, or point me in the direction of someone who can help me figure this out, Thank you, Ben Hall Fleet Maintenance City of Twin Falls 7