Minimising Total Cost of Ownership
Through Smart Technology Choices
What businesses need to consider when exploring new power solutions for their equipment
Investing in high-quality power solutions for industrial equipment is crucial, especially when electrifying applications. While upfront costs often drive purchasing decisions, a comprehensive view of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is essential for long-term profitability. Advanced technologies that drive reliability, efficiency, and cost savings justify their initial investment, making them the ideal choice for professional users in any market. Premium engines or batteries can thus prove to be significantly more cost-effective power solutions over the application’s lifecycle.
Understanding TCO: A Long-Term Perspective
Total cost of ownership (TCO) is an estimation of the expenses associated with purchasing, deploying, using and retiring a product or piece of equipment. Put simply, it is the purchase price, plus the total running costs across its lifespan.
TCO provides a ‘real-life’ understanding of the quantifiable financial impact a piece of equipment has on a business across its entire lifecycle, making it a crucial insight to inform purchasing decisions. Especially when compared to the narrow view of purchase price alone.
TCO should form part of any business’ purchasing decisions and, when it comes to commercial power solutions, it should be a top priority.
Thorough Research Pays Off
Investing time in research to understand the implications of the equipment you require should go without saying. Every purchasing decision is unique and requires insights and education to inform a commercially viable decision that is different for every operator.
When it comes to commercial grade power solutions, they need to be durable, long-lasting and reliable, as they will often face tough conditions and long periods of use. When equipment fails in a commercial situation, it’s not just maintenance and repair costs that will impact the bottom line, but the downtime and loss of productive man-hours too.
TCO takes into account the need to keep equipment on the jobsite for longer, increasing productivity and return on investment.
Power solutions that cut costs
Numerous factors come into play when considering the right power supplier for your business, most of which will directly impact the TCO. For example, should your power source be battery or engine? Do you need a customised solution to fit your needs, or will a standardised product do the job?
Whether it is for industrial, recreational, or commercial use, expertise and experience is required to advise, design and deliver a power solution that will suit your individual requirements. Get this wrong and costs in the future could mount up to manage challenges that have not been considered. Get it right and an efficient solution will perform effectively, minimising downtime and safeguarding your outcome.
Power suppliers like Vanguard, backed by Briggs & Stratton, offer solutions for unique commercial applications and innovative products. Considering the individual needs of an application and company, Vanguard can deliver the most suitable solution, be it lithium-ion or petrol power.
Either way, Vanguard supports the entire process, from development to commissioning to aftersales and - in the case of batteries - end of life. Reliable and durable, Vanguard provides an end-to-end solution that positively impacts the TCO.
Reducing Maintenance & Downtime with Advanced Technology
Product development and innovation is another important contributing factor for TCO. Applying the latest technology to answer each individual organisation’s needs will naturally lower the cost of ownership in the long term.
For power solution providers at the forefront of technological development, new features can have a big impact, such as these examples from Vanguard engine and battery technology:
Extended maintenance intervals
The Oil Guard™ System extends oil change intervals from 100 to 500 hours, maximising equipment uptime and productivity while reducing downtime.
Optimising performance
Electric Fuel Injection (EFI) fine-tunes the engine’s performance to reduce fuel consumption, while the Electronic Throttle Control (ETC) maintains stable engine speed to ensure reliable performance across all terrains and loads, reducing maintenance costs.
Avoid malfunction
TransportGuard™ integrates a single action fuel and ignition shut-off during transport, preventing engine failure and reducing downtime.
Interchangeability & Standardisation
The 48V Si1.5 Swappable Commercial Battery Pack can be easily moved between applications, streamlining usage and optimising workload. For a large fleet running on battery power across diverse brands and categories, this interchangeability can increase efficiencies by a large extent.
Advanced protection
Integrated Battery Management Systems (BMS) continuously monitor battery performance, detect faults, and shut down in case of overload, providing crucial protection. This proactive system safeguards the investment by preventing severe battery damage and significantly reducing expensive maintenance and replacement costs.
Alerting failures
Vanguard batteries and EFI engines support CAN-bus communication, simplifying their integration into applications using this system. In addition this enables users to consistently monitor key power source checkpoints, ensuring the system remains operational.
The total costs of energy transition
In fact, when it comes to the transition to battery power, TCO is a fundamental consideration. Questions around extending product lifecycle, as well as minimising emissions and waste, are at the forefront of many business agendas. All of which contribute to the added benefit of reduced TCO.
When researching electrification and investing in batteries, it is worth taking the time to compare different battery technologies and like-for-like technology, so lithium-ion vs lithium-ion and not necessarily lithium-ion vs petrol or lead-acid.
While one battery may have a lower upfront cost compared to another battery, the reality of deployment on-site could see a dramatically shorter runtime. This can result in more batteries to change and more chargers to invest in, or more frequent recharging periods, and the risk of increased downtime, again impacting the TCO.
An in-depth understanding of the technologies, performance parameters, charge and recharge times and cycle life can impact a fleet TCO significantly. Lower purchase price seldom translates to a lower TCO.
A comparative cost analysis highlighted the differences between interchangeable lithium-ion battery systems. For example, while the Vanguard Si1.5 battery system has higher initial costs, it requires significantly fewer batteries and chargers to achieve the same operational performance and runtime compared to other market alternatives.
This results in substantial long-term savings, making it a more cost-effective solution over the lifecycle of the equipment. This underscores why TCO should be a primary consideration when selecting power solutions.
Conclusion
While a lower purchase price is enticing, taking the time to consider the TCO is always worthwhile, creating a much more realistic understanding of a product’s true cost.
For businesses aiming to reduce operational costs and increase efficiency, selecting high-performance engines and battery solutions is a strategic investment.
Technologies that offer extended maintenance intervals, reduced energy consumption, and advanced system integration contribute to significant long-term savings.
Based on total cost of ownership, expertise and innovation, Briggs & Stratton’s commercial brand Vanguard is the go-to provider for tough, long-lasting commercial grade power solutions.
Vanguard offers a handy online TCO Calculator for single-cylinder engines to understand true costs in a few easy steps.
Calculate your savings now!
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1 TCO (total cost of ownership), by Stephen J. Bigelow, Senior Technology Editor, TechTarget Network www.techtarget.com
