171–180 of 398 posts
I wonder what they're going to do with the old vehicles that are being replaced. During the last replacement cycle, the used vehicle market was flooded with surplus Jeeps. One of my brother's friends got one for $12 at auction. They were inexpensive first vehicles for teenagers though not all that safe. My understanding is that UPS scraps their vehicles once they've exhausted their usefulness, which is why you don't…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I 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.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
in uk all the services drive boring old Transits or whatever. At least Royal Mail have some respect for their Postman Pat legacy and paint their vans red. But there is one outstanding exception: UPS. I don't even see so many of them around, so i'm not pure why it's economical for them and why only they use custom vans, but i respect them for that.
Possibly because as a global company, it's easier for them to have shared vehicles and parts across their entire service area (most the world). They can probably just fly the vans/trucks and parts in wherever they are needed, since they run their own fleet of (very large) planes as well.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A literal 120V exterior outlet? 83% of these vehicles drive in the city. They drive on average 18 miles a day (typical routes being about 45 miles). You don't need a 150kW Supercharger station, you just need a 1.2kW regular old 120V exterior outlet used for trimming the bushes. Even a cheap RV hookup would be overkill. If a federal government agency in the most powerful national on the planet can't take the most obvi…
Yes, there are probably very few outlets where mail trucks currently park. These things are parked in the middle of parking lots, not in garages. And you need more than one outlet, you need one for every truck that parks there. And I am sure no current USPS office has power service hooked up for several hundred amps of draw that was never anticipated to be used. There's no way to do a project this big without phasing…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
in uk all the services drive boring old Transits or whatever. At least Royal Mail have some respect for their Postman Pat legacy and paint their vans red. But there is one outstanding exception: UPS. I don't even see so many of them around, so i'm not pure why it's economical for them and why only they use custom vans, but i respect them for that.
Possibly because as a global company, it's easier for them to have shared vehicles and parts across their entire service area (most the world). They can probably just fly the vans/trucks and parts in wherever they are needed, since they run their own fleet of (very large) planes as well.
But I guess these don't really count as these are suncontractor vehicles...
I wonder what they're going to do with the old vehicles that are being replaced. During the last replacement cycle, the used vehicle market was flooded with surplus Jeeps. One of my brother's friends got one for $12 at auction. They were inexpensive first vehicles for teenagers though not all that safe. My understanding is that UPS scraps their vehicles once they've exhausted their usefulness, which is why you don't…
I'm guessing they wouldn't be strictly street legal for general use?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having a nose that crumples is helpful in case of accidents. Turns out that VW Vanagons are deathtraps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmixmEkfLu0
Did you watch the video? The Volkswagen faired as ‘safe as a car’. It was the other manufacturers that failed miserably. My conclusion from watching is that it seems like safety is a design problem that not every mfg designed for.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> These vehicles rarely make it above 40mph That speed is quite deadly with zero crumple zone.
No. It's really not. Unless you're a frail elderly person (not the post office's hiring pool, this should go without saying). If you're wearing a seat-belt that's an "I'm sore the next day" speed. If you're not wearing a seat belt then you're going through the windshield and it doesn't matter how the vehicle is equipped.
Why are looks so important anyways? Clearly USPS is trying to look after its employees, trying to ensure they have the best vehicle, suited for their work with minimal hassle.
If they looked too good, the sad fact is that they might be targeted for being stolen.
Stealing a regular person's car and crashing it isn't of much concern if you don't kill anyone.
