This vehicle would be so much more adorable if they'd given it a more face-like front end, like an NA Miata, or anything more fitting to the Cars movie franchise.
Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird
71–80 of 398 posts
Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
TFA actually explains all this pretty well: "The requirements dictated the step-in height, the glass height (including the low side glass), the vision angles, the internal height, and the maximum roof height," wrote Kahn in a tweet. "That was all locked in." Other constraints included the ability to reach the mailbox while in the seated position, and the requirement to see the ground around the vehicle...
I saw that, but those constraints don't seem to be necessary for postal vehicles in other countries. The person I was responding to was wondering why other countries seem to just fine with regular looking vans that have postal branding. It's worth asking about, isn't it? Just because those things are spec'd as they are, that doesn't mean they need to be.
Each country has their own circumstances to deal with. This design would not make sense in Europe where a lot of the last mile delivery was done by mail carriers on foot or bicycles. However it does boost efficiency considerably in the USA's vast expanse of suburbia. FWIW, mail trucks in Canada also have with right hand drive and low floor so the driver could reach into mailboxes without having to leave their seat.
My local postal service used to make delivery on bicycles but they have gradually introduced golf-cart like miniature EVs. This allow each run to cover a much larger area but probably would not for the most of US because their mail routes are too long.
Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird
#73Why have a specific design anyways? In both Sweden and Spain, the cars carrying mail is typically just a normal half-truck (not sure about the correct name) with the post office branding. Here are two examples: https://c8.alamy.com/comp/DA5TW8/yellow-correos-spanish-post... - https://st2.depositphotos.com/3982569/5739/i/950/depositphot... Seems to work fine. Packages gets carried in bigger trucks, but still just busi…
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Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
Too bad it’s not higher. But that’s a good start. It’s a clear win for a well-engineered electric drivetrain given the low miles typically traveled per day (BUT high total miles on odometers as they’re made to last decades), typically low speeds, and extensive stop and start. Playing almost entirely to electric’s strengths and the weaknesses of internal combustion. In an ideal world, I’d hope it’d be 50% electric and…
I can't imagine more than a handful of post offices are ready to plug in all of their trucks right now. They're almost all going to need power upgrades.
Literally just need a 120V outlet.
You can’t tell me that exterior outlets are rare or expensive. The fuel saved in a single year would easily exceed the price of putting some exterior outlets in a parking lot.
Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't imagine more than a handful of post offices are ready to plug in all of their trucks right now. They're almost all going to need power upgrades.
Electric delivery vehicles could easily be charged overnight from regular 'residential' outlet. Since average mail route is 45miles [1]. At 1000Wh/mile - that's only 45kWh of charge needed per vehicle. [1] https://www.grit.com/community/usps-rural-delivery-factoids
Probably more like 300Wh/mile. A Tesla Model 3 gets 4miles per kWh and that’s measured at higher average speed. At 3.3miles per kWh and 1.3kW for a typical L1 charger (literally just any standard 120V outlet), the average 45 mile range (13.5kW) would be charged in just 10 hours. With probably 14-16 hours charging each night, that's plenty to replenish greater than average usage as well. Put a 300 mile range battery in there, and you only need to charge once a week. (And note that the old Grumman LLV only had like 13.3 gallons and atrocious 10mpg, so that'd be like double the range and less frequent fuelings/chargings.)
Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't imagine more than a handful of post offices are ready to plug in all of their trucks right now. They're almost all going to need power upgrades.
Things take time in the real world. Unfortunately there are whole supply chains to deal with. 10% is a solid start and shows intention beyond just a proof of concept.
That sounds like an excuse. They’re already using vehicles today. There’s no good reason that 90% of these can’t be electric.
Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't imagine more than a handful of post offices are ready to plug in all of their trucks right now. They're almost all going to need power upgrades.
Literally just need a 120V outlet. You can’t tell me that exterior outlets are rare or expensive. The fuel saved in a single year would easily exceed the price of putting some exterior outlets in a parking lot.
I would assume they're already in half the parking lots in the North - block heaters would require outlets, so anywhere that gets below -20C would likely be able to have electric vehicles today.
Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd wager ~75% of mailboxes are delivered to with a RHD vehicle. So it matters a lot.
TIL, thanks. Maybe it's different for rural areas, but here in (sub)urban Canada postal workers hit a few houses at a time (and you can tell because most of them wear comfortable walking shoes too). I just looked it up and it seems like their new electric vehicles aren't RHD either, would be curious to know how that decision transpired :)
It does depend on locale. In US cities where there's some density the postal worker will usually leave their truck (which is often a regular, non-custom, mid-size box truck) at the end of a street, fill up a wheeled bag, and walk to several buildings with the bag to drop things off, before returning to the truck and moving to the next location.
But in most suburbs (which is a lot of the US), at least where there are mailboxes at the curb (and not mail slots on houses), the postal worker will just drive from mailbox to mailbox, dropping mail as they go, never leaving the vehicle, only getting out of their seat when they need to add more mail to the box sitting next to them.
Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird
#79Why have a specific design anyways? In both Sweden and Spain, the cars carrying mail is typically just a normal half-truck (not sure about the correct name) with the post office branding. Here are two examples: https://c8.alamy.com/comp/DA5TW8/yellow-correos-spanish-post... - https://st2.depositphotos.com/3982569/5739/i/950/depositphot... Seems to work fine. Packages gets carried in bigger trucks, but still just busi…
One requirement seems to be that the driver can access the mailbox without leaving the vehicle. So the equivalent in Europe would be the bikes (or, nowadays, electric scooters) that are used to deliver mail. They are typically specifically designed for the postal service.
So it might be less different than it seems at first.
Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't imagine more than a handful of post offices are ready to plug in all of their trucks right now. They're almost all going to need power upgrades.
Literally just need a 120V outlet. You can’t tell me that exterior outlets are rare or expensive. The fuel saved in a single year would easily exceed the price of putting some exterior outlets in a parking lot.
Maybe not, but it's possible many post offices would need electrical supply upgrades to handle having their entire fleet plugged in all at once. Not impossible or even difficult, but not free either.