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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

#271

Post by vallassy »

angry_octet wrote: post #190
excalibur wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Reliable deliveries with all-weather protection. The roof over the DXP AU provides great visibility and protection against the wind and rain. Calling BS on this. Anything more than a light drizzle (or any kind of wind + rain combo) and that driver is getting wet.

You know they have to get out to deliver letters and parcels? They have a solution and it's called a rain coat.

I feel like being pedantic for a moment. Our suburban posties don't get off the bike to deliver the letters, they ride up alongside the letterbox and deliver the letters right from the vehicle, as can be seen in the link in the GGP comment. They also deliver small parcels that will fit in a standard letterbox.

You are quite right though, as soon as the rain starts, they're in full wet gear. Bright yellow, you can't miss them.

Suburban parcel delivery is specifically taken care of by Startrack, an Auspost subsidiary, usually in a trusty Toyota Hiace van.

Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs

#272

Post by jedberg »

rootusrootus wrote: post #97
kube-system wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EVs are kind of loud these days due to FMVSS No. 141 https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/02/26/2018-03...

As the owner of two EVs, with neighbors that have various EVs and hybrids, I am actually kinda miffed at the new regulations. For a typical appliance car like a Corolla, Camry, or similar, the engine is all but inaudible unless the car is stationary. Once it is past walking speed tires quickly become what you hear. This need to make EVs loud sucks because I was really looking forward to a quieter environment. But no.…

People were dying because they couldn't hear the cars coming. Elderly, children, hard of hearing, people just looking at their phones or otherwise visually distracted.

Noise pollution is a problem but the safety issues are more important.

Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs

#273

Post by raphaelj »

What would be the impact of such fleets on electricity production management?

As these charge overnight, I'm guessing USPS could easily program them to charge when the electricity is the cheapest (i.e. overproduced), or skip charges when the remaining range is enough and electricity expensive.

Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs

#274

Post by yurishimo »

notch898a wrote: post #204
OhNoNotAnother1 wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, the post office is not a company but a government service so it can LOSE money and that's fine. Second, they don't they make a little on local delivery and bulk and lose a little on long distance. It's not rocket surgery.

I don't think it's fine we're subsidizing domestic shipping rates to mail to foreign citizens on foreign soil, save maybe a few rare exceptions like they're acting in an official capacity on behalf of the US.

Are American citizens not entitled to send mail to other citizens overseas? I would argue that most mail that is sent abroad is between American citizens and their families (military care packages, Xmas cards for expats, etc).

Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs

#275

Post by defrost »

diordiderot wrote: post #255
defrost wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Daimler Truck, one of the world’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturers, has unveiled its first heavy-duty, battery-electric truck – the Mercedes-Benz eActros LongHaul – with a new e-axle and a range of 500kms. https://thedriven.io/2022/09/20/daimler-unveils-its-first-el... Electric truck maker Janus has debuted the first battery-powered prime mover in Australia and has plans to set up battery swap stations up and…

500kms isn't really long haul in the US though

Mainland USofA is the same land area as Australia.

500 kms w/out having to stop is a long leg.

Being able to stop and swap out | replace batteries in the same time as a refueling | load | unload is indeed "a long haul technology" as it enables long haul trucking.

Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs

#276

Post by globular-toast »

rootusrootus wrote: post #97
kube-system wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EVs are kind of loud these days due to FMVSS No. 141 https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/02/26/2018-03...

As the owner of two EVs, with neighbors that have various EVs and hybrids, I am actually kinda miffed at the new regulations. For a typical appliance car like a Corolla, Camry, or similar, the engine is all but inaudible unless the car is stationary. Once it is past walking speed tires quickly become what you hear. This need to make EVs loud sucks because I was really looking forward to a quieter environment. But no.…

Noise pollution just isn't taken seriously yet. Manufacturers are free to implement as much noise as they like. Think about the cumulative effect of completely pointless stuff like the Windows startup sound or Apple device locked sound.

Cars are some of the worst offenders, of course. They always have been. But they've become a lot worse and apparently EVs are only going to continue that trend, apparently. I've noticed the utterly pointless "door open" chiming sound has started to appear on cars sold in Europe. Why do I and everyone around me need to know the car door is open when I've literally just opened it to enter the vehicle? Again, think about the cumulative effect of all these stupid pointless noises.

Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs

#277

Post by Brybry »

AdamN wrote: post #261

In Berlin, Deutsche Post use electric trikes and mail here is very efficient.

I think in the states the cost in lives might be significant if we did that.

If you look at USPS annual reports to congress they have ~27k motor vehicle accidents a year with a fleet of ~236k vehicles (~216k delivery).[1]

So possibly 10%+ of their vehicles are involved in accidents each year.

If we look at occupant fatality rates for vans (what usps currently use) they're one of the safest vehicle types.[2]

Meanwhile if we look at motorcycles the fatality rate is nearly 10 times higher.[3]

Bicyclist numbers look better at first glance but that's probably because the rate is by total population and not registered vehicles (because you don't have to register a bicycle).[4]

I know in my state (Louisiana), riding a bicycle on a road with other vehicles is considered notoriously unsafe.

Anecdotally I've had friends who reported incidents of people opening doors of moving vehicles to purposefully hit cyclists (and if you search american news media you'll see reports of intentional 'dooring').

[1] https://about.usps.com/what/financials/annual-reports/fy2022...

[2] https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/Publication/8126...

[3] https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/...

[4] https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/...

Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs

#278

Post by Neil44 »

hbarka wrote: post #226

The mailman stopping and starting the engine at every mailbox is so ridiculously wasteful, not just of energy but also time. That’s an additional 15-20 seconds between mailboxes fiddling with the ignition and transmission. In various neighborhoods I’ve lived in all the mailmen did this. Looking forward to EV delivery trucks to make life easier for the drivers and not having to hear that screeching of the ignition at…

I guess density of housing is a big factor. Where I live they postlady parks her van centrally ish near the post box, collects that then fans out on foot delivering stuff. But some rural roads you've got a long distance between properties.

Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs

#279

Post by mlvljr »

notch898a wrote: post #168
gffrd wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some reason I find it really funny that there are Dominos in the Czech Republic …

As an American I refuse to believe there is anything in Brno but a gigantic Česká zbrojovka factory.

[dead]

Re: U.S. Postal Service starts nationwide electric vehicle fleet, buying 9,250 EVs

#280

Post by yurishimo »

zirgs wrote: post #252
b112 wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to go out of your way to get to the gas station, go up to the pump, pay for it, and then get back on your way. It always takes me 5-10 minutes to get gas. Wow. Gas stations are everywhere, conveniently located, and always on route to some place or another. The mental gymnastics employed, to try to make this seem arduous, does not make for a compelling argument.

Many rural areas have no gas stations nearby, but they do have electricity. So it's now actually more practical to have an EV in those places.

Only if you don't need to travel further than your available range in a single day. While gas stations might be less common, there are still way more of them than high powered electric chargers.

Having an electric vehicle is not useful if the only "fast" charging available to you as a consumer is a 240v hookup at your home (and you need to drive long distances regularly).

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