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Germany’s Post Office built and used ~2,000 custom-built electric delivery trucks in 2016 and deployed ~10.000 per year since 2017. UPS’s 50 seems very low for 2018 in comparison. One article about them: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-24/even-germ... They are called StreetScooter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StreetScooter
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a pilot run of 50. Think of them as prototypes. They will use what they learn from these prototypes to build a larger fleet. If they can make these purchase price competitive with their current trucks it will be a huge win.
Meanwhile DHL/Streetscooter has already sold at least a few hundred of these.
Saying they should just use Streetscooters is like telling a family of 5 to use a motorcycle.
Germany’s Post Office built and used ~2,000 custom-built electric delivery trucks in 2016 and deployed ~10.000 per year since 2017. UPS’s 50 seems very low for 2018 in comparison. One article about them: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-24/even-germ... They are called StreetScooter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StreetScooter
I can't help but notice that the StreetScooter is significantly smaller than a typical UPS truck. It looks in the size range of a Ford Transit Connect, while most UPS trucks are Utilimaster curb vans that are something like 25' in length. I suspect that the balance of vehicle size and mileage might make this kind of adoption rather difficult for UPS - I live in a city, but not a very dense one, where I'm pretty confi…
I also suspect that the routes are shorter than you might think, because there are a lot of stops and they are not moving all that fast for most of the trip. I suspect most UPS trucks probably average well under 25 miles per hour for most of their travel which would put an 8 hour day around 200 miles. In denser areas like cities it could be significantly less than that. If a truck makes a 1-minute stop to toss a package on your porch then drives half a mile in another minute and repeats, it's still only covering 15 miles and 30 packages an hour.
I wouldn't be surprised if UPS trucks within cities tended to be below 50 miles/day most of the time, and since they control driving routes very tightly they can easily put these trucks only on appropriate routes.
It'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.
I imagine how good that bike fleet would be today if they added electric assistance. Sure bicycles might not be great for the final mile delivery of someone's Amazon order of 50litres of mineral water but that is the point.
They'll need this in Europe. Lots of cities are clamping down on pollution.
[1] https://electrek.co/2017/08/23/royal-mail-new-electric-auton...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Meanwhile DHL/Streetscooter has already sold at least a few hundred of these.
Streetscooter's volume is 4 cubic meters, a single UPS truck is closer to 20 cubic meters. Saying they should just use Streetscooters is like telling a family of 5 to use a motorcycle.
When EVs advertize 100 mile range, that means in the best conditions. Heavy loads would reduce that. Cold weather itself can make your range worse, and additionally any kind of heating or AC will reduce range further. I recently purchased an EV with a "100 mile range," and it so far hasn't achieved higher than a 70 mile range, given the cold weather, even with 100% charge, no climate control, and no real load. Turn o…
I wouldn't recommend buying an EV that is not Tesla.
It'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.
...along with postmen on bicycles. The Royal Mail moved to hand pushed trolleys for health and safety reasons. I imagine how good that bike fleet would be today if they added electric assistance. Sure bicycles might not be great for the final mile delivery of someone's Amazon order of 50litres of mineral water but that is the point.
In 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 ).
Background: I work at Picnic, an online supermarket in the Netherlands, and we have a large fleet of small electric trucks for delivering in cities and neighborhoods.
