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That doesn't make any sense. All the "electrical infrastructure" needed to drive the typical 45 mile route is a regular old 120V exterior outlet. The retrofit c
by Robotbeat 6y ago
That doesn't make any sense. All the "electrical infrastructure" needed to drive the typical 45 mile route is a regular old 120V exterior outlet. The retrofit cost is going to probably be double the marginal cost it would've been to just make it electric in the first place.
Whoever is making these decisions either wasn't given competitive bids or they're poorly informed about electric vehicles.
- shkkmo 6y agoI suspect there is a high level of variance in both the length of different routes and the availability of power in parking areas for mail trucks.
- Robotbeat 6y agoGrumman LLVs only have a 120 mile range. This is already double. And sure, maybe you’ll want an RV style outlet (also pretty cheap) in case of 5% of vehicles where 120V wouldn’t be enough.
- TylerE 6y agoThe LLV can refuel in 5 minutes at over 160,000 public locations.
- Dylan16807 6y agoIt sure can! That's also much much more flexibility than it needs. For a low-mileage fleet vehicle it's deep into diminishing returns.
- noneeeed 6y agoAs I pointed out in another thread about these vehicals, the USPS still operates mule trains, hovercraft and helicopters for some deliveries. That's the most extreme examples, and I imagine there are many journeys that are somewhere between in terms of range and difficulty. People have a very narrow view of the world and forget that not everywhere is urban or suburban, or even just farming country levels of density. The USPS has to service them all.
- ping_pong 6y agoHow long will it take to recharge these hundreds of vehicles, and who will be around to take them out of their charging stations and move in a new vehicle? Electric vehicles are great but at scale, the issues around charging them daily are very real. It works for a single homeowner, but if a post office has 100(?) trucks, and it takes 2 hours to charge, someone needs to be there to keep track of them, unless you expect 100 charging stations.
- Robotbeat 6y agoYou don’t need a “charging station,” you just need an outlet. And you don’t need someone to “charge” them except the person who parked it. It charges at night after use. An exterior outlet costs almost nothing compared to the fully burdened cost of a parking space. Of all the “very real” problems with electric vehicles, you picked two or three things that aren’t.
- nradov 6y agoAt most post offices the trucks are parked outside without electrical outlets nearby. Sure those can be built but it will take a while. In many cases the circuit supplying the facility will have to be upgraded.
- Robotbeat 6y agoAny parking lot with lamp posts has electricity. Takes way less time to install an exterior outlet than it does to build a vehicle.
- innocenat 6y agoAre you implying that circuit driving the lamp posts can handle multiple 15A load?
- SECProto 6y agoYou'd be surprised how much load runs through a chain of streetlights. 3phase/400V and they pull heavy duty conductors through the conduit. Could definitely handle multiple 120v/15A equivalents (but it'd be way cheaper and more effective to pull dedicated conduit + conductor)
- m463 6y agoThere's quite a bit more charging overhead for 110 vs 220. Also, there are 30,000 post offices. I'd imagine it will be a long process, even if they just put in 110. one evse requires large amounts of continuous current, let alone with a parking lot full of vehicles.
- totalZero 6y agoYou're assuming that vehicles are charged disparately, rather than having several vehicles charging in tandem in the lot behind the post office.
- xeromal 6y ago120V is tremendously inefficient when converting to DC. 220V is a little less so but it's better to have other means of charging.