FedEx has been using all-electric delivery vehicles in Chicago for at least five years.
UPS is working on a fleet of 50 custom-built electric delivery trucks
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Re: UPS is working on a fleet of 50 custom-built electric delivery trucks
#12In The Netherlands, DHL uses bikes : http://www.dhl.com/en/press/releases/releases_2014/express/d... I absolutely hate DHL as a recipient in NL, but this is pretty cool. They have other green vehicles too ( gas, electric ).
how is gas green?
Low emissions.
The alternative IC engine is typically diesel and spews lots of carcinogenic particles and compounds.
Re: UPS is working on a fleet of 50 custom-built electric delivery trucks
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
Regen cancells some (most?) of "aggressive driving" leaving speed (i.e. wind resistance) as the major killer of range. If they're deployed in thick urban areas that might not be an issue.
With aggressive driving, it's very easy to move braking loads into the friction brakes, making a 100% loss. Even when you cycle energy out of the battery and back in via regen, there are losses (to heat). Driving carefully in my LEAF, I can get 4.2-4.5 miles per kWh. Driving like an ass, it's easy to get that figure down under 2.
Also get 4.2 miles/KWh here. Maybe they will build in some kind of feedback for the trucks. The leaf has (had) the little trees that appear on the dashboard; maybe UPS can track this and issue a token incentive (free meal, bonus) at the end of the month if the delivery schedule is accomplished with less energy.
Re: UPS is working on a fleet of 50 custom-built electric delivery trucks
#14In The Netherlands, DHL uses bikes : http://www.dhl.com/en/press/releases/releases_2014/express/d... I absolutely hate DHL as a recipient in NL, but this is pretty cool. They have other green vehicles too ( gas, electric ).
how is gas green?
You may have a point. It burns cleaner ( liquified natural gas ).
Re: UPS is working on a fleet of 50 custom-built electric delivery trucks
#15In The Netherlands, DHL uses bikes : http://www.dhl.com/en/press/releases/releases_2014/express/d... I absolutely hate DHL as a recipient in NL, but this is pretty cool. They have other green vehicles too ( gas, electric ).
how is gas green?
Maybe they meant natural gas (actual gas) rather than the liquid fuel we call "gas" as short for "gasoline".
Re: UPS is working on a fleet of 50 custom-built electric delivery trucks
#16Rural American mail trucks are being replaced with barely-running junk minivans or really whatever can be purchased for the cheapest possible amount, probably the lease emission-aware solution I can think of. I’m not sure if these are workers providing their own transportation on contract or what, but I have seen some very sketchy vehicles delivering mail in multiple states around the US lately.
rural route carriers, who are generally independent contractors working for the USPS to serve low volume highly-dispersed routes, (what used to be called star routes) have provided their own vehicles since forever.
Re: UPS is working on a fleet of 50 custom-built electric delivery trucks
#17Rural American mail trucks are being replaced with barely-running junk minivans or really whatever can be purchased for the cheapest possible amount, probably the lease emission-aware solution I can think of. I’m not sure if these are workers providing their own transportation on contract or what, but I have seen some very sketchy vehicles delivering mail in multiple states around the US lately.
Rural delivery has always been private vehicles. Carriers with spouses who have good jobs buy right hand drive Subaru’s. Everyone else drives some hooptie mobile.
A lot of farm spouses used to do this gig. A moderately reliable car and a mechanically inclination is a key to success — cars need brakes every 3-6 weeks.
USPS in general started buying more low bidder commercial vehicles because their package volumes have increased and the bespoke, cheap mail trucks were too small.
Re: UPS is working on a fleet of 50 custom-built electric delivery trucks
#18In The Netherlands, DHL uses bikes : http://www.dhl.com/en/press/releases/releases_2014/express/d... I absolutely hate DHL as a recipient in NL, but this is pretty cool. They have other green vehicles too ( gas, electric ).
how is gas green?
Biogas can be generated by fermenting sewage. All buses in Stockholm run on it, it burns extremely clean and is carbon-neutral since it utilizes carbon already in the present carbon cycle.
Re: UPS is working on a fleet of 50 custom-built electric delivery trucks
#19It's a pity that the UK used to have a huge fleet of low-speed electric doorstep delivery trucks, devoted to milk and groceries; but they were all phased out just prior to the internet era.
Re: UPS is working on a fleet of 50 custom-built electric delivery trucks
#20Rural American mail trucks are being replaced with barely-running junk minivans or really whatever can be purchased for the cheapest possible amount, probably the lease emission-aware solution I can think of. I’m not sure if these are workers providing their own transportation on contract or what, but I have seen some very sketchy vehicles delivering mail in multiple states around the US lately.
Rural delivery has always been private vehicles. Carriers with spouses who have good jobs buy right hand drive Subaru’s. Everyone else drives some hooptie mobile. A lot of farm spouses used to do this gig. A moderately reliable car and a mechanically inclination is a key to success — cars need brakes every 3-6 weeks. USPS in general started buying more low bidder commercial vehicles because their package volumes have…
Sometimes a Model S will do: