Well that's great, I'll be getting almost 100% junk mail via EV now.
U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs
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Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs
#212Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're Kyburz DXP trikes, specially designed for Australia Post: https://www.kyburz-asia.com/delivery-vehicles/dxp-au 120kg load capacity (270kg with trailer), 50kph max speed, 50-100km range. Curb weight is 315kg, total vehicle weight is 510kg. For comparison, the USPS NGDV requirements were for a vehicle that could carry a loaded Kyburz DKP (minimum payload capacity of 680kg in 155 cubic ft) at twice the top speed…
Wow that is faster than I expected since they are 3 wheeled. Honda stopped producing 3 wheeled trikes because they were far too easy to tip over during cornering and many people died. These things look like they could do the same if not careful. I hope they give employees lots of training.
Yeah the weight distribution looks like it's pretty top-heavy when fully loaded, doesn't it? And it's not like it's a Carver that compensates for all of that whenever you take a turn (sadly), so I'd be very cautious while driving it.
Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs
#214Most American humans and pets know the distinctive sound of an LLV trolling around the block delivering the mail. EVs are Ninja-like by comparison. I'm not suggesting this is a bad thing, but it's gonna be a different world.
I had this thought recently too. I was wondering how a USPS vehicle being nearly silent could impact elderly who know the sound of the vehicle to know when mail has arrived. It could result in elderly making additional trips to the mailbox increasing their risk for injury in the event of bad weather. Or could they miss getting their medication because they do not think mail was delivered. Where I live mail is not alw…
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Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs
#215> President Joe Biden signed an executive order at the start of his presidency saying all federal vehicles would have to be zero-emission by 2035.
Well, that isn't going to work. Batteries don't do well in the cold, like in Alaska.
Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs
#216This will save a lot of money over time. Last time I checked in any detail, electricity prices per mile of transport per ton were about 25% that of fossil fuel prices per mile of transport per ton, and that was three years ago. They should really move all long-haul trucking to electric as well, at least for the main trunk lines, and for city-wide delivery. Remote rural routes will likely be the hardest to electrify.
If you really want to be environmental, long haul trucking should go by rail.
Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah - while it seems easy/logical to just swap a normal delivery vehicle for an electric version of it, you don't really have to do that & electric vehicles do come in many more shapes and sizes due to the might higher flexibility and scalability of the electric power system. For example here in Brno, Czech Republic, the entry to the city center is nowadays quite restrictive for regular cars/vans - a lot of it is a…
For some reason I find it really funny that there are Dominos in the Czech Republic …
Hard on anecdotal observation Domino's is far more popular in Europe than the US
Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs
#218This will save a lot of money over time. Last time I checked in any detail, electricity prices per mile of transport per ton were about 25% that of fossil fuel prices per mile of transport per ton, and that was three years ago. They should really move all long-haul trucking to electric as well, at least for the main trunk lines, and for city-wide delivery. Remote rural routes will likely be the hardest to electrify.
I have a hard time believing electric semis are cheaper because of range limits.
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Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs
#219For comparison, Australia Post went with mostly 3-wheel electric bikes for local deliveries (3100 out of 4100 EVs in the fleet mid 2022). https://auspost.com.au/our-stories/inspiring-stories/sustain... there's a photo in the link. The low noise compared to the previous powered bikes is really nice.
They're Kyburz DXP trikes, specially designed for Australia Post: https://www.kyburz-asia.com/delivery-vehicles/dxp-au 120kg load capacity (270kg with trailer), 50kph max speed, 50-100km range. Curb weight is 315kg, total vehicle weight is 510kg. For comparison, the USPS NGDV requirements were for a vehicle that could carry a loaded Kyburz DKP (minimum payload capacity of 680kg in 155 cubic ft) at twice the top speed…
I don't really understand why they went with a one-size-has-to-fit-all solution here when there's such a high variety of climates and terrains in the US.
Or is the idea to start with these where appropriate and develop other vehicles for more extreme climates?
Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs
#220This will save a lot of money over time. Last time I checked in any detail, electricity prices per mile of transport per ton were about 25% that of fossil fuel prices per mile of transport per ton, and that was three years ago. They should really move all long-haul trucking to electric as well, at least for the main trunk lines, and for city-wide delivery. Remote rural routes will likely be the hardest to electrify.
I have a hard time believing electric semis are cheaper because of range limits.
Also this may not be true for the US now but in parts of Europe the charging cost for driving an EV has at times already surpassed the gas cost for regular cars. And that was despite the war also leading to increased oil prices in Europe at the same time, thanks to the EU's climate policy and certain countries shutting down coal and gas power plants without even having enough alternate capacity yet. Germany was the king of that, they're shutting down nuclear, coal and gas power plants at the same time :)
If you think that sounds idiotic, that's politics for you. I wouldn't count on this never happening in the US, a lot of people support "climate action" without caring about the details or understanding anything about any of this on a technical level.