Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird • Hacker News Board

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#321

Post by brummm » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:12 PM UTC

Johnny555 wrote: post #262

KingOfCoders wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glad I've watched the video. It says the exactly opposite of your comment. The VW is safe, can be repaired and is comparable to normal cars with a hood. This happens so often in comment sections, people drop a lengthy video, noone wants to watch a 15 minute video and they have a "proof" for their argument.

and is comparable to normal cars with a hood Well, at least when compared to cars from 1984. I wonder how it would fare against a modern car? Cars are much safer today, the paper below says that the probability of a driver being killed in a new 2008-2012 car is 0.29 versus 0.42 in a new 1985-1993 model year car. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/... (another interesting finding from that pap…

One could also just use the current version of that car to compare to other cars. VW has been making that type of car forever and still does.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#322

Post by ffdhghggg » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:12 PM UTC

Robotbeat wrote: post #132

It's interesting that "cost" is the reason given for why these vehicles aren't electric, but... how could that be? Batteries for electric carmakers are not that expensive any more, maybe $150/kWh. LLVs are currently horrendously inefficient (fleet average of about 9mpg). They have a ~13 gallon tank for a range of about 120 miles. They drive about 18 miles a day on average (total fleet average, so some are idle and pr…

People on HN are technical, so we're discussing technical reasons. However, that's not really how the government works.

USPS leadership had instructions to electrify the fleet. For whatever reason, they decided they didn't want to. Maybe they didn't want to deal with a risky change, maybe they thought it would hinder meeting their other obligations. Doesn't matter. They decided they didn't want to do it.

Their next step is then to write requirements in their rfp such that they can select a contractor that cannot meet the electric mandate. This allows them to legally pass the buck for the electric thing to their contractor, who will get paid big dollars to "develop" electric vehicles that their customer doesn't want.

Congress gets to brag about their environmental contributions, USPS gets the vehicles they want, and the contractor gets a sizable sum to do nothing. Win-win-win.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#323

Post by xioxox » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:18 PM UTC

patrickyeon wrote: post #135

thepasswordis wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay I'm genuinely curious why "mail lady" wouldn't fly today. ...why not?

Gendered terms are becoming less popular to describe people in situations where their gender doesn't matter. So we might say "mail person" or "mail carrier", the same as we say "firefighter" instead of "fireman". It's not "cancel culture" as the sibling comment suggests; it's rarely people being outraged about imagined attacks. It's just language evolving as society evolves. As an added bonus, sticking with non-gende…

The US should take up the nice UK gender-neutral term of Postie.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#324

Post by Mauricebranagh » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:20 PM UTC

ffdhghggg wrote: post #322

Robotbeat wrote: post #132

It's interesting that "cost" is the reason given for why these vehicles aren't electric, but... how could that be? Batteries for electric carmakers are not that expensive any more, maybe $150/kWh. LLVs are currently horrendously inefficient (fleet average of about 9mpg). They have a ~13 gallon tank for a range of about 120 miles. They drive about 18 miles a day on average (total fleet average, so some are idle and pr…

People on HN are technical, so we're discussing technical reasons. However, that's not really how the government works. USPS leadership had instructions to electrify the fleet. For whatever reason, they decided they didn't want to. Maybe they didn't want to deal with a risky change, maybe they thought it would hinder meeting their other obligations. Doesn't matter. They decided they didn't want to do it. Their next s…

I suspect they where afraid of push back from the previous administration as well.

I am surprised they didn't look at using LNG instead of petrol.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#325

Post by adamjb » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:20 PM UTC

specialist wrote: post #133

Groxx wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a stupendously low step-in height. Probably makes a huge impact in reducing RSI and other repeated-motion injuries. More weirdness please. Looks great to me.

Ya, this new design isn't nearly 'weird" enough. Why have a nose at all? Put driver's seat over the front wheels. Like the VW Vanagon (Eurovans). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Type_2_(T3) These are gonna be EVs, right? Might as well do it right.

Having a low nose is way more survival for people getting hit than a flat front.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#326

Post by Mauricebranagh » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:23 PM UTC

Adrig wrote: post #275

Robotbeat wrote: post #132

It's interesting that "cost" is the reason given for why these vehicles aren't electric, but... how could that be? Batteries for electric carmakers are not that expensive any more, maybe $150/kWh. LLVs are currently horrendously inefficient (fleet average of about 9mpg). They have a ~13 gallon tank for a range of about 120 miles. They drive about 18 miles a day on average (total fleet average, so some are idle and pr…

ITT people arguing that a country with $7 trillion of spending budget can't install a few power outlets in its post offices.

cough the unjoin'd up and fragile nature of the US Grid might also be a problem.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#327

Post by INTPenis » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:30 PM UTC

Adrig wrote: post #275

Robotbeat wrote: post #132

It's interesting that "cost" is the reason given for why these vehicles aren't electric, but... how could that be? Batteries for electric carmakers are not that expensive any more, maybe $150/kWh. LLVs are currently horrendously inefficient (fleet average of about 9mpg). They have a ~13 gallon tank for a range of about 120 miles. They drive about 18 miles a day on average (total fleet average, so some are idle and pr…

ITT people arguing that a country with $7 trillion of spending budget can't install a few power outlets in its post offices.

The US is massive and its grid of infrastructure can't always keep up. But you're right that cities should have electrical USPS vehicles. Dominoes here have electrical bikes in city locations, why can't the post office have electrical cars?

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#328

Post by Mauricebranagh » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:34 PM UTC

diggan wrote: post #10

Why 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…

Time and motion to maximise the efficiency of the postie its why the old trucks sit the driver on the near side.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#329

Post by johnwalkr » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:38 PM UTC

Robotbeat wrote: post #132

It's interesting that "cost" is the reason given for why these vehicles aren't electric, but... how could that be? Batteries for electric carmakers are not that expensive any more, maybe $150/kWh. LLVs are currently horrendously inefficient (fleet average of about 9mpg). They have a ~13 gallon tank for a range of about 120 miles. They drive about 18 miles a day on average (total fleet average, so some are idle and pr…

It’s too bad, a massive fleet built to spec, with central fueling and maintenance locations is a perfect use case for electric now even though we are potentially a long way from charging stations as convenient as gas stations.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#330

Post by kwhitefoot » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

cycomanic wrote: post #253

Robotbeat wrote: post #132

It's interesting that "cost" is the reason given for why these vehicles aren't electric, but... how could that be? Batteries for electric carmakers are not that expensive any more, maybe $150/kWh. LLVs are currently horrendously inefficient (fleet average of about 9mpg). They have a ~13 gallon tank for a range of about 120 miles. They drive about 18 miles a day on average (total fleet average, so some are idle and pr…

That's essentially what the German Post did. They developed their own all electric van the streetscooter. Unfortunately they could not turn it into a viable business and sell enough units to others, so they shuttered the operation last year. Quite unfortunate, because I believe the project was well ahead of its time.

Th Norwegian Post Office uses electric vehicles. I saw one in the street in Drammen this morning. See https://elbil.no/posten-elbil/