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U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs
- ddulaney 4y agoHow does this interact with the huge contract with Oshkosh a couple years ago to replace the LLV?
- Animats 4y agoThat contract was investigated, controversial, scaled back, and might end up being cancelled. Oshkosh has never built small electric delivery vehicles. Their specialty is big, heavy vehicles. Fire trucks, concrete mixers, military vehicles, etc. Using the boring but practical electric Ford Transit van makes sense. Those things are going to take over the local commercial van market. They're already in mass production.
- midoridensha 4y agoI imagine Ford is also a lot better at building huge quantities of vehicles than Oshkosh.
- mulmen 4y agoPlus USPS can buy parts from Autozone.
- ender341341 4y agoI believe this is the 10% of the trucks from that contract that were to be EV
- loandbehold 4y agoSucks that they are not 90% EV. EVs are perfect for mail delivery, with frequent stops.
- vinay427 4y agoThat number is outdated, and USPS revised its plans after a lawsuit and other political criticism. > The plan drew heavy criticism and spawned a lawsuit from 16 states aiming to block the purchase. > Since then, the USPS has slowly raised the number of EVs it plans to order. In July 2022, it estimated that at least 40 percent of its new purchases would be electric, and in December, it said it was exploring the “feasibility of achieving 100% electrification.” The agency says that it expects to invest around $9.6 billion into the initiative and expects pretty much every vehicle it buys after 2026 to be electric. https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/1/23620658/usps-ford-transit-ev-electrification-goals-off-the-shelf https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/1/23620658/usps-ford-transit...
- ender341341 4y agoCool, I thought I remembered something like that but all I could find was the 10% number from a quick search. Really Happy to see it's higher.
- happycube 4y agoFrom the article this is a separate contract for COTS trucks, along with some gas ones from Stellantis.
- sieabahlpark 4y ago[dead]
- jeffbee 4y agoI see Amazon's electric trucks in Berkeley quite often. I wonder how that fleet is working out for them. Of course the mail in my city is delivered primarily on foot.
- filoleg 4y agoI have no idea for certain, but I would guess really well. Mostly because I saw one of them for the first time ever in Seattle about 3.5 months ago. At first it was just one, then I saw another one a week later. The frequency kept increasing to the point where I see multiple ones every time I go on a short grocery trip a few miles away. They expanded to the point where they are everywhere here now, and I doubt they would continue expanding it so aggressively if it wasn't working out.
- pengaru 4y agoThe regen advantage must really pay off on deliveries up in the Berkeley Hills...
- coryrc 4y agoI wish I could buy one of those vans. They're almost exactly what I want to make a camper from.
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y agoEVs are still not campervan ready unless you have no plans to boondock (i.e you will always have a connection to the grid when you stop for the night). If you use solar for recharging, best efforts (with a huge unfolding PV array) get you maybe 100 mile hops. That might be enough for some folks, but it's probably not going to be generally satisfactory (and, btw, it is a huge PV array that is required).
- coryrc 4y agoMy plan is large PV array for supplying daily needs but paid charging or campsites for the vast majority of travel energy. Slow or local travel is the primary usage.
- codazoda 4y agoI’ve been wondering what the most repairable vehicle might look like, and I guess the USPS already put a lot of brain power into that problem. I presume this is ugly because it’s both purpose built and highly repairable.
- viraptor 4y agoUgly is subjective. I see it as "modern style has been sacrificed to achieve functionality/safety/..." and that's a form of beautiful for me.
- nemo44x 4y agoI guess they are saying it’s “functional” but lacks “form”. These are distinct things which do not imply one another. What we value is of course subjective.
- viraptor 4y agoUtilitarian or industrial can be seen as a form itself as well. The lack of complex design in the body is both functional and a form.
- jplona 4y agoAlso, the current ones aren't all that stylish either.
- hot_gril 4y agoNah, it's objectively ugly. Doesn't really matter, though.
- euroderf 4y agoIn the year 2100 it will be remembered as the Camaro of early EVs.
- maxerickson 4y agoAt the moment they actually are buying electric Ford Transits, not the thing pictured at the link. Looks a lot like a van: https://www.ford.com/commercial-trucks/e-transit/ https://www.ford.com/commercial-trucks/e-transit/
- viraptor 4y agoFor comparison, Australia Post went with mostly 3-wheel electric bikes for local deliveries (3100 out of 4100 EVs in the fleet mid 2022). https://auspost.com.au/our-stories/inspiring-stories/sustainability/largest-electric-delivery-fleet https://auspost.com.au/our-stories/inspiring-stories/sustain... there's a photo in the link. The low noise compared to the previous powered bikes is really nice.
- Gigachad 4y agoThe linked one is more like a golf cart form factor. In the city areas they also use something resembling a regular ebike with pedels. Makes it easy to get on the footpath since most buildings have no parking.
- ggm 4y agoOne I see regularly has a semi official "50 kph speed limited" sticker and underneath another less official one: "you wish" Compared to the old step through moped they had this new trike is a big improvement. It has shade and it carries far more mail. But it is bigger and I can see it may sometimes be less "agile" on badly maintained pavement and grass. The mopeds used to scoot around like zippy little dogs
- dbg31415 4y agoHard to fit Amazon packages on a tricycle, Mate.
- mattbrewsbytes 4y agoWhere are they going to charge them once a post office has a few? I thought I read somewhere that charging infrastructure is fine for a household but a fleet of 10+ EVs will need significantly more juice (technical term) and hardware to mitigate significant safety concerns.
- ceejayoz 4y agoFirst paragraph of the article: > The service awarded contracts on Tuesday for 9,250 battery electric vehicles and for more than 14,000 charging stations.
- IncRnd 4y agoReading farther in the article: It also remains unclear where the vehicles and charging stations will be placed, as those details have yet to be finalized, the agency said. So, to answer the GP's question, "Where are they going to charge them once a post office has a few?" Nobody knows.
- ceejayoz 4y agoThey're provisioning more chargers than vehicles. The answer seems fairly clear. For now, if you get three EVs at your local post office, I'd expect roughly three chargers installed.
- Blackstrat 4y ago[flagged]
- Blackstrat 4y ago[flagged]
- viraptor 4y agoAre you assuming the grid situation won't change over the next years? And that the charging stations will use the same source as the city? Have you actually checked their plan for the charging stations and how will they be operated? When you do large projects like that, the reliability is considered and infrastructure is planned to account for it. Unless you're criticising a specific part of their actual plan, that's just a lazy dismissal.
- p1necone 4y agoThe person you're replying to is too divorced from reality to reason with (or they're a troll), just downvote and move along. Engaging with climate change deniers is just giving them what they want.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Blackstrat 4y agoNo. Without capacity and grid improvements, it will fail. At this point, it’s at best a pipe dream. https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-ev-transition-explained-2658463709 https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-ev-transition-explained-265846...
- maxerickson 4y agoPalo Alto is considering investing US $150 million toward modernizing its distribution system, but that will take two to three years of planning, as well as another three to four years or more to perform all the necessary work, but only if the utility can get the engineering and management staff, which continues to be in short supply there and at other utilities across the country. Further, like other industries, the energy business has become digitized, meaning the skills needed are different from those previously required. That's like an 8 year timeline. How is an 8 year timeline a pipe dream? Like there are lots of issues to address, but not many that seem insurmountable.
- Proven 4y ago[dead]
- waldothedog 4y agoI love the look of this thing so much. I wish I could buy this as a personal vehicle.
- eco 4y agoIt's very divisive but I love the NGDV too. I wouldn't want it as my personal vehicle but mail trucks have had an iconic look my whole life and these even more so. I think a lot of kids will grow up with fond memories of this dorky mail truck.
- Gunnerhead 4y agoFor some reason it gives “The Homer” vibes haha. https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/The_Homer https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/The_Homer
- photochemsyn 4y agoThis will save a lot of money over time. Last time I checked in any detail, electricity prices per mile of transport per ton were about 25% that of fossil fuel prices per mile of transport per ton, and that was three years ago. They should really move all long-haul trucking to electric as well, at least for the main trunk lines, and for city-wide delivery. Remote rural routes will likely be the hardest to electrify.
- konspence 4y agoNo long-haul electric truck technology exists.
- defrost 4y agoDaimler Truck, one of the world’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturers, has unveiled its first heavy-duty, battery-electric truck – the Mercedes-Benz eActros LongHaul – with a new e-axle and a range of 500kms. https://thedriven.io/2022/09/20/daimler-unveils-its-first-electric-heavy-duty-and-long-haul-truck/ https://thedriven.io/2022/09/20/daimler-unveils-its-first-el... Electric truck maker Janus has debuted the first battery-powered prime mover in Australia and has plans to set up battery swap stations up and down the eastern seaboard within months. .. a first taste of the company’s plans to electrify long haul truck fleets using only batteries. https://thedriven.io/2022/02/10/janus-unveils-first-electric-truck-for-australian-east-coast-battery-swap-route/ https://thedriven.io/2022/02/10/janus-unveils-first-electric...
- diordiderot 4y ago500kms isn't really long haul in the US though
- defrost 4y agoMainland USofA is the same land area as Australia. 500 kms w/out having to stop is a long leg. Being able to stop and swap out | replace batteries in the same time as a refueling | load | unload is indeed "a long haul technology" as it enables long haul trucking.
- justanother 4y agoMost American humans and pets know the distinctive sound of an LLV trolling around the block delivering the mail. EVs are Ninja-like by comparison. I'm not suggesting this is a bad thing, but it's gonna be a different world.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- kube-system 4y agoEVs are kind of loud these days due to FMVSS No. 141 https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/02/26/2018-03721/federal-motor-vehicle-safety-standard-no-141-minimum-sound-requirements-for-hybrid-and-electric https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/02/26/2018-03...
- Helithumper 4y agoAlong with having some pretty goofy sound packs, https://youtu.be/xpvQ1Y27t70 https://youtu.be/xpvQ1Y27t70 in particular that to me is super eerie.
- rootusrootus 4y agoAs the owner of two EVs, with neighbors that have various EVs and hybrids, I am actually kinda miffed at the new regulations. For a typical appliance car like a Corolla, Camry, or similar, the engine is all but inaudible unless the car is stationary. Once it is past walking speed tires quickly become what you hear. This need to make EVs loud sucks because I was really looking forward to a quieter environment. But no. Now I can tell you exactly when my neighbor two houses away is backing his Tesla into the garage, but not when his wife comes & goes in her Tahoe.
- hot_gril 4y agoSame, it's like they introduced truck reverse sounds to the common driver (which they also had on Priuses but only on the inside). Should be like 80% quieter to match what an ICE would sound like.
- danans 4y agoI wonder what the functionality of that big nose is. I doubt it's all for a crumple zone. That and the flat front windscreen certainly aren't a problem for aerodynamics at the low speeds at which these typically operate. Looks like something out of a kids movie though, which is kinda neat actually.
- rootusrootus 4y ago> I wonder what the functionality of that big nose is. In addition to crumple zone, that's where the wheels and steering gear is. And it's a handy place to stuff things like air conditioning and such. The alternative would be a much higher cab floor, which isn't an ideal choice for a mailman who probably gets in and out quite regularly.
- danans 4y ago> The alternative would be a much higher cab floor, which isn't an ideal choice for a mailman who probably gets in and out quite regularly. Ah, that makes a lot of sense. Also, I suspect the snout isn't really that huge, but the vertical windshield exaggerates that look.
- psychlops 4y agoThere is so little need for a post office any more except as a junk mail delivery system. I'd rather see phase out plans.
- Clubber 4y agoThere are a lot of remote areas that only the USPS will deliver to because they aren't profit motivated.
- psychlops 4y agoThe nation should subsidize package delivery to remote locations? I'm sure there is a good reason why, but I can't think of an example. I can only hope their lack of profit motivation will make them stop taking money from bulk mailers.
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y agoBecause there are people doing things out there that are valuable to us, but we don't pay them enough to do those things that they could dream of paying the full cost of mail delivery.
- hot_gril 4y agoHigher costs, higher prices, it works out. But the USPS has plenty of other reasons to exist.
- manquer 4y agoShouldn’t we be instead paying them the fair value of their labor rather than this and let them choose how to spend that money ? We tried subsidizing rural broadband for last 3 decades with 100s of billions of dollars with little to show for it , Starlink on the other hand is able to solve it with purely commercial enterprise not withstanding the small rural subsidy they got. Maybe it is better for the market to decide ? If the market does not value the important things rural economy produces and is absolutely important then they either start valuing them correctly and pay for it or we can stop producing them ? Government subsidy always creates inefficiencies and is slow to adapt to change . It is acceptable trade off in some areas like defense, police, healthcare, insurance, or foundational research where for profit enterprise is not viable but package delivery is hardly one of them.
- robshrk 4y agoMy neighborhood delivers the mail on foot, while the truck is parked most of the day. The delivery man walks more than a Pacific Crest Trail thru-hiker.
- pugworthy 4y agoSeems to be at the discretion of the delivery person. Our usual one walks a lot, but there's one sub that literally drives to every house, hops out, delivers.
- angry_octet 4y agoThere's a glimpse of the Amazon delivery dystopia on tiktok where the driver shows the monitoring camera and goes through the rules the system enforces. (Favourite ones: can't drink water while driving (even if stopped), can't touch centre console (e.g. for airconditioning, radio).) Because of the delays due to rules (vehicle in park before unbuckle, seat belt buckled before moving, door shut), and the huge penalties for forgetting a rule even once, it is common for drivers to park and then run back and forth to the truck. https://jalopnik.com/watch-an-amazon-driver-explain-the-companys-in-van-surv-1850168129 https://jalopnik.com/watch-an-amazon-driver-explain-the-comp...
- flutas 4y ago> Seems to be at the discretion of the delivery person. Historically: It's by section of the route. Each route is supposed to have designated walking or riding sections. That might have changed recently though.
- dbg31415 4y agoThe newest “mail truck” in the US is pushing 30 with a 40 year old design. No AC, no airbags, no ABS breaks… how can anyone insure this or have it pass OSHA regulations? https://www.hotcars.com/grumman-llv-brief-history/ https://www.hotcars.com/grumman-llv-brief-history/
- slater 4y agoThey really went with that goofy-looking van, huh? :D (wasn't there some blurb about how the postal workers weren't too happy with that design? i mean, practical reasons, not just 'i don't like it')
- metadat 4y ago9,250 EVs vs 14,000 charging stations. Why start off with 30% more more charging stations than EVs?
- hot_gril 4y agoHotspotting.
- magicalhippo 4y agoAt least here in Norway, getting connected to the grid is starting to be problematic, as capacity is already pretty stretched. In our neighborhood our condominium got our chargers connected without issue, but now the local transformer is maxed out. Next ones who come along might get a no or will have to pay for an upgraded transformer (not cheap). So at least here, it would be advantageous to get connected as soon as possible.
- lettergram 4y agoI think this makes a ton of sense for local distribution of mail. They need to load and can charge. That said, my local mail delivery is made via 4 wheel drive down an often running creek bed. Lol I think we are pretty far away from fully get electric…
- koromak 4y agoI hope this actually works
- oogabooga13 4y agoCNBC had an interesting video about the Tesla semi's that Pepsi Co. is using. I say interesting because it just broadly touches on the project and in certain segments feels more like a marketing puff piece than journalism. Nonetheless still some stuff that can be extracted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-BVM673pDs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-BVM673pDs
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- olivermarks 4y ago'a contract has also been awarded for the agency to acquire 9,250 commercial-off-the-shelf internal combustion engine vehicles "to fill the urgent need for vehicles." In December, the agency said that 21,000 COTS vehicles will be purchased and are "expected to be battery electric," but said that depends "on market availability and operational feasibility." In this case, the internal combustion engine vehicles will be gas-powered and made by Fiat Chrysler Automobile, a spokesperson for USPS told CBS News. They added that, unlike older USPS vehicles, these will "feature air conditioning and advanced safety technology and are more suited to modern day operational requirements."
- themodelplumber 4y ago> but said that depends "on market availability and operational feasibility." Oh great. Living in a rural area this phrasing immediately brings to mind certain people. "Heer in the hills we only got OIL cars, see. And ourn roads got RUTS would swollow your 'lectric. Nope, 'lectric won't get you up there honey, ain't feesible atall. WEEE HEEE HEEE HEE"
- exabrial 4y ago[flagged]
- throwawaaarrgh 4y agoPaper comes from tree farms. Only illegal logging operations increase deforestation. There are lots of reasons for us to have a postal service other than receiving bills in the mail.
- exabrial 4y agoLike what? Literally everything can be sent over email except packages
- throwawaaarrgh 4y agoSure about that? Literally everything? There's not a single solitary document that might require receiving somehow other than email? USPS provides a vital service of connecting rural people in America to both package and letter delivery. People need to get medicines, supplies, and yes, letters, and have very little access without USPS. Everything from voting to legal documents to IDs to taxes to cash and checks and much more flow through USPS, at very affordable rates.
- the_only_law 4y agoI swear I still get paper bills for crap I turned electronic billing on years ago
- b0afc375b5 4y agoI don't get it either. One would think that corporations would cut unnecessary costs by not sending paper bills at the advent of electronic communication. Is there a legal obligation to keep sending them, I wonder.
- kristopolous 4y ago"3 suppliers". Ok, thanks. Do they have names?! Edit: Name dropping over here https://www.benzinga.com/news/23/03/31134628/us-postal-service-looks-electric-heres-the-latest-winners-in-new-round-of-truck-contracts https://www.benzinga.com/news/23/03/31134628/us-postal-servi...
- sschueller 4y agoWhy does this thing look so ugly? Is there a specific reason? The electric postal type vans I have seen look almost identical to the gasoline version. [1] [1] https://www.man.eu/ch/de/transporter/man-tge/elektroantrieb/man-etge.html https://www.man.eu/ch/de/transporter/man-tge/elektroantrieb/...
- bvinc 4y agoMy wife thinks they’re cute.
- sparrc 4y agoBit misleading but I don't think the image is what was actually purchased. That's a concept car from CES. What they've purchased are the "Ford E-Transit Battery Electric Vehicle", which AFAICT look pretty much identical to the standard Ford Transit vans that are ubiquitous all over the US.
- IggleSniggle 4y agoI’m just guessing, but… Significantly smaller. They are designed to be stopped on small oneway roads while still leaving enough room for a full sized vehicle to pass. It’s also somewhat reminiscent of the existing fleet of last-mile carrier trucks: https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/usps-mail-delivery-truck-back-corner-view-gwinnett-county-usa-205927177.jpg https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/usps-mail-delivery-truck-bac...
- Symbiote 4y agoThe concept shown has wonderful visibility. Some places are mandating designs along these lines for pedestrian safety.
- gaoryrt 4y agoIn China, Wuling produced a supermini EV for short-distance deliveries. https://carnewschina.com/2022/11/01/wuling-sells-an-ev-truck-with-a-center-drivers-seat-in-china-now/ https://carnewschina.com/2022/11/01/wuling-sells-an-ev-truck...
- smsm42 4y agoMakes sense for USPS for urban and suburban environments - relatively small distances, predictable routes, predictable timing (so you don't need fast charging even - nobody suddenly urgently needs their mail delivered in the middle of the night, at least not from USPS).
- peplee 4y agoThe one in the picture in the article looks like a cartoon car. Why? Rivian’s one for Amazon looks normal.
- mulmen 4y agoBecause it doesn’t matter how it looks. It only has to work.
- miked85 4y agoWell that's great, I'll be getting almost 100% junk mail via EV now.
- mcv 4y agoIs paper junk mail still that much of a problem? I hardly receive any (but I've got one of those stickers saying I don't want it), and assumed it had died due to the rise of online advertising.
- throwaway742 4y agoWhat does your sticker say?
- mcv 4y agohttps://plakkers.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/nee-nee-sticker-nee-ja-brievenbus-deursticker-rood-zwart.png.webp https://plakkers.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/nee-nee-stick... Translation: NO unaddressed printed advertising material, door-to-door news papers NO These stickers are reasonably well respected here, and violating them leads to a barrage of complaints to the advertising company. Lots of people have them.
- miked85 4y agoIt definitely is for me (US) - I basically check my mail once a week only to throw it all out. I do wonder if maybe I should just stop checking it entirely.
- WalterBright 4y ago> President Joe Biden signed an executive order at the start of his presidency saying all federal vehicles would have to be zero-emission by 2035. Well, that isn't going to work. Batteries don't do well in the cold, like in Alaska.
- throwayyy479087 4y agoAlaska has a tiny road network. Regular cars don't work there either. Mail in most Alaskan towns comes by plane. In Anchorage and Fairbanks, eTransits will be more than enough.
- hbarka 4y agoThe mailman stopping and starting the engine at every mailbox is so ridiculously wasteful, not just of energy but also time. That’s an additional 15-20 seconds between mailboxes fiddling with the ignition and transmission. In various neighborhoods I’ve lived in all the mailmen did this. Looking forward to EV delivery trucks to make life easier for the drivers and not having to hear that screeching of the ignition at every house.
- sgt 4y agoWhy don't they just let the car idle? I have never seen a postman not doing that.
- hbarka 4y agoI know right. It’s one of those mysteries. Maybe they thought it saved gas, like in the old days when great grandpa would deliberately stop the engine at intersections. (Which by the way is common now in some modern cars and startles me.)
- sgt 4y agoI don't like that feature very much since it basically introduces a lag.
- mnw21cam 4y agoWhile I didn't like the start/stop feature when I had a hire car briefly, I can't see how it would ever add a lag. By the time you have pressed the clutch pedal down to put it in gear, it has started.
- jedberg 4y agoMost cars in the US are automatics, and it does introduce a lag. I turn it off the moment I turn on the car. It caused me to almost have an accident when I was in stop and go traffic, specifically because of the lag. The person behind me did not expect me to start so slowly right after stopping (I had to wait for the engine shutoff and then to turn back on).
- pancrufty 4y agoI'm looking forward to the day physical mail is outlawed with few exceptions. Junk mail is such a wasteful endeavor only meant to subsidize shipments of value that can't be electronic.
- nine_k 4y agoI receive maybe 5 lb of paper mail a year, stuff which could be electronic. I receive easily 500 lb of physical parcels a year, stuff like dog food, cat litter, coffee, etc. Also, banning physical paper mail implies that you have to have an official email address for official documents like taxes.
- AnssiH 4y ago> Also, banning physical paper mail implies that you have to have an official email address for official documents like taxes. Or have a government online service where you receive such documents (as done here in Finland, though it is entirely optional).
- pancrufty 4y agoEuropean here: I do. I also have a federated government login that I can use to officially identify myself with the many government agencies.
- AdamN 4y agoIn Berlin, Deutsche Post use electric trikes and mail here is very efficient.
- Brybry 4y agoI think in the states the cost in lives might be significant if we did that. If you look at USPS annual reports to congress they have ~27k motor vehicle accidents a year with a fleet of ~236k vehicles (~216k delivery).[1] So possibly 10%+ of their vehicles are involved in accidents each year. If we look at occupant fatality rates for vans (what usps currently use) they're one of the safest vehicle types.[2] Meanwhile if we look at motorcycles the fatality rate is nearly 10 times higher.[3] Bicyclist numbers look better at first glance but that's probably because the rate is by total population and not registered vehicles (because you don't have to register a bicycle).[4] I know in my state (Louisiana), riding a bicycle on a road with other vehicles is considered notoriously unsafe. Anecdotally I've had friends who reported incidents of people opening doors of moving vehicles to purposefully hit cyclists (and if you search american news media you'll see reports of intentional 'dooring'). [1] https://about.usps.com/what/financials/annual-reports/fy2022.pdf https://about.usps.com/what/financials/annual-reports/fy2022... [2] https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/Publication/812686 https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/Publication/8126... [3] https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813306 https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/... [4] https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813322 https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/...
- rmccue 4y agoIt sounds like there could be selection bias in those numbers, so I’m not sure that can be extrapolated. I’d expect that the percentage of vans driven by professional drivers is relatively high, compared to motorcycles.
- Brybry 4y agoThey separate out minivans from large vans and both types of vans are still some of the safest vehicles. You could also ignore vans entirely and look at compact cars (the worst of the passenger vehicles) and it's still a bad look for motorcycles. I don't know that driver quality really matters here. If you're hit by an SUV or a truck (which is what most americans buy) when you're on a motorcycle it's going to be a worse time than if you're in a vehicle with airbags and crumple zones.
- raphaelj 4y agoWhat would be the impact of such fleets on electricity production management? As these charge overnight, I'm guessing USPS could easily program them to charge when the electricity is the cheapest (i.e. overproduced), or skip charges when the remaining range is enough and electricity expensive.
- ckdarby 4y agoLarge scale power management like this can help smooth out the supply and demand fluctuations.
- theshrike79 4y agoCharging management based on electricity price is a solved problem already with multiple solutions. Seems like a no-brainer for an org like USPS to implement.
- notorandit 4y agoI wonder what will happen to the 9250 non-EVs they will replace. Will they end up in the landifll?
- mcv 4y agoRecycle them, probably. Or whatever they normally do with their vehicles when they're taken out of use for other reasons. It's not like those things live forever.
- cartoonworld 4y agoOh yes, they have aluminum bodies and are very useful for this reason. You'll also find a few people out there who want them for projects or just to drive around. I knew one person with a VW rabbit diesel swap LLV.
- thinkcontext 4y agoRecycled. USPS's fleet is in dire condition with many vehicles past their useful life and being actually dangerous to operate. Not to mention being extremely expensive to operate because of fuel and maintenance of such old stock.
- botro 4y agoIt’s surprising for me to see how underappreciated the USPS appears in some of these comments. I’ll make the bold claim that the following industries / companies would not exist without the USPS: The Airline Industry: In the early days of American aviation, air transportation was unproven and not financially viable, until the USPS built the necessary infrastructure and gave contracts to airlines to allow them financial feasibility… starting in 1918! [1] Machine Learning: In 1989 Yann LeCun wrote his seminal paper “Backpropagation Applied to Handwritten ZIP Code Recognition”, which used the USPS’s data set and has today become the hello world of machine learning tasks. More importantly this is the first commercial or industrial application of machine learning. [2] Netflix: Before Streaming became a thing, Netflix was shipping DVDs via the USPS. The Postal Service adapted its processes and equipment to make this financially feasible, supporting Netflix through its transition to streaming. [3] Amazon: Early Amazon was only a book vendor, the USPS offered special rates for books that made it possible for Bezos to be profitable from his garage … in 1994, thus birthing the behemoth it is today. [4] Chickens: okay, not really. But the USPS ships millions of pounds of live chickens and other animals each year! [5] [1] https://www.history.com/news/us-aviation-airmail-passenger-flight https://www.history.com/news/us-aviation-airmail-passenger-f... [2] http://yann.lecun.com/exdb/publis/pdf/lecun-89e.pdf http://yann.lecun.com/exdb/publis/pdf/lecun-89e.pdf [3] https://www.zdnet.com/article/u-s-postal-service-to-netflix-youre-killing-us-on-labor/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/u-s-postal-service-to-netflix-... [4] https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-is-Media-Mail-Book-Rate https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-is-Media-Mail-Book-Rate [5] https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm
- skee8383 4y agoI'm sick and tired of the lack of attention to asthetics. why does it have to be so ugly? same thing is happening with operating system UI design since after Vista and OSX leopard. even new consumer cars and trucks are ugly with NPC gray paint jobs and huge plastic front bumpers.
- mattymf 4y agoGreat, but they look terrible. I won't enjoy seeing these eyesores.
- johnday 4y agoAgreed, they are profoundly ugly objects. Looks like someone manifested a 3-year-old's drawing of a milk float. Surely we as a species still appreciate things looking _good_ as part of an objective goal?
- kupopuffs 4y agosurely that deters people from stealing them
- MapsSlaps 4y agoI think they are cute little duck vans. Look at that duck bill. Quack! I dunno, they make me smile because they are so ugly/goofy.
- EchoReflection 4y agothe "clean" energy fad is selling snake oil. https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/electric-vehicle-ownership-costs/ https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/electric-vehicle-ownershi... https://theramreview.com/the-true-cost-of-electric-vehicles/ https://theramreview.com/the-true-cost-of-electric-vehicles/ "While the benefits of electric vehicles certainly are appealing, there are unintended consequences not openly being discussed. Among these are “indirect pollution,” and “natural resources availability” related to the wiring, traction motors, and batteries that are the primary drivers of electric-drive vehicles. Let’s begin with “indirect pollution” resulting from mining and processing of materials. Battery-pack materials include aluminum, copper, steel, lithium, glass fibers, carbon fibers, and polymers. Electric motor materials include aluminum, cobalt, copper, iron, silicon-steel, manganese, graphite, lithium, and a variety of rare-earth minerals (dysprosium, neodymium, niobium, terbium and praseodymium). For example, the amount of copper required for electric-drive vehicles is staggering compared to that for fossil-fuel-powered vehicles. Conventional cars use 18 to 49 pounds of copper, while hybrid vehicles (HEVs) use 85 pounds. But it doesn’t end there. PHEVs use 132 pounds of copper, while EVs require over 180 pounds. Electric buses and hybrid electric buses contain 196 and 814 pounds of copper, respectively. And there’s a real cost for that. Copper, much like other primary metals, begins with mining the metal bearing ore. Beyond mining, the process steps for producing copper include transportation, concentration, roasting, smelting, converting, and refining before it is ever formed into bus bars, terminals, connectors, and wiring. Those processes require massive amounts of electricity and result in large amounts of impurities and pollutants that must be contained and disposed of. These include sulfur, antimony, arsenic, lead, sulfur dioxide (SO2), sulfuric acid, iron oxide, and naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) such as uranium and radium. The waste streams include solution ponds, smelter slag, and solid waste. Note, too, that “natural resources availability” of many of the metals required for electric vehicles is in environmentally sensitive regions, countries with unstable or economically hostile governments, and globally- constrained supply chains. Let’s take a look at where massive amounts of just three of those required minerals are found: cobalt, rare earth, and copper. ♦ Cobalt: The Democratic Republic of Congo possesses 47% of the global reserve. China processes the largest amount of cobalt for the world market. New cobalt reserves are being exploited. Deep-sea mining of metal nodules mixed in the sediment is one of the most promising sources of cobalt, copper, nickel, and manganese, especially among the Pacific Islands. Waste rock and sediment is re-deposited on the sea floor destroying deep sea marine life. ♦ Rare-Earth Minerals: China possesses 95% of the global rare-earth mineral reserves. The supply chain is constrained by geo-political forces and a volatile price history. Until the 1980s, the U.S. was one of the world’s largest producers of rare-earth minerals. Northeast Wyoming, home to one of the highest-grade rare-earth deposits in North America, is currently under development. However, China has increased production by more than 500% since 1990 due to that country’s substantial deposits and cheap labor. As China began to produce more high-tech products requiring rare-earth elements, the mining intensified. That mining, in turn, uses a mix of water and chemicals, which causes extensive water and soil pollution. China’s local and federal authorities have reportedly shut down illegal and small-scale rare-earth mining operations. ♦ Copper: Domestically, copper is mined in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Montana, and Michigan. Internationally, Chile, though, possesses over 30% of the global copper reserves." ---- And lastly: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a38043667/study-electric-cars-higher-cost-questions/ https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a38043667/study-electric-c...
- felixfbecker 4y agoFor as long as I remember, my mail in Germany has been delivered by bicycle. Not ebikes, just bicycles with some small extra wheels so delivery persons could quickly stop, hop off, walk to residential mailboxes to throw in mail, and hop on again without the bike falling over.
- dsq 4y agoRepetitive urban travel with lots of stops and starts, with hours of down time at night, is probably the best use case for electric vehicles.
- fennecfoxy 4y agoTook 'em long enough. Meanwhile in the UK Royal Mail, Supermarket deliveries, many London Busses, Black Cabs, etc have all gone electric/hybrid.