Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

cbsnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–330 of 503 posts

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

#321

Post by 867-5309 »

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…

this is the recommendation from Amazon (at least) citing driver and vehicle safety

close to minimum wage, the last thing you want is for your vehicle to be driven away by a thief

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

#322

Post by elihu »

akira2501 wrote: post #61
photochemsyn wrote: post #32

This 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.

> electricity prices per mile of transport per ton were about 25% that of fossil fuel prices per mile of transport per ton In shipping and logistics, time is money. Fuel can be dispensed in the US at a maximum of 10 gal/minute. Factor that against the largest charger you can find and see why the single cost difference doesn't matter yet. > They should really move all long-haul trucking to electric as well Reduced cap…

> Have no fear; though, the moment this is logistically favorable, they will switch.

I think the thing that makes this logistically favorable is electrification of major highways. What I worry about is that this requires coordination between government agencies and car and truck manufacturers and it requires political will to make it happen and find the funding. We could start building it right now, or we could sit on our thumbs for the next twenty years.

(There are several different ways to electrify highways. My preference would be to use something like the system they're testing out in Sweden that uses power rails in slots embedded in the road surface. Cars/trucks have a device that swings down and makes contact. Overhead lines are cheaper, but aren't practical for cars to use. Induction charging is another option but it's much more expensive and power delivery isn't great if there's no physical connection.)

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

#323

Post by jabl »

crote wrote: post #315
nine_k wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where the rail exists, yes. The US is not as densely populated as Europe, so outside coastal areas much less land has a train station even within 200 miles radius.

The US has quite a bit of freight rail - that's what is currently one of the things holding passenger rail back. There might not be a train station, but there definitely is rail! Meanwhile, Europe has so much passenger rail that freight is really tricky to run. For example, there is a really busy freight corridor from Rotterdam to Germany with rail dedicated solely to freight, but the rest of The Netherlands is prett…

In Europe there's also problems with cross-border rail freight, partly due to incompatible systems, and partly due to bureocracy (national operators lobby politicians hard to protect their home turf, while trying to expand internationally, running into the same issue there with the local national operator).

If you look at the share of freight transported by rail as a function of the distance, in the US that curve goes smoothly upwards, as long distances play into the economic benefits of rail, whereas in Europe there's a sharp drop beyond 500-1000km or so. Meaning that international shipments in Europe largely switches to trucks.

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

#324

Post by mulmen »

euroderf wrote: post #256
mulmen wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, that’s cool. Seems obvious in a place like central Washington where you can see hundreds of windmills lining the highway. Might also be beneficial on hillclimbs where instant battery capacity may be lacking. If we imagine building EVs that are 1:1 replacements for ICE we see challenging hurdles but with even small changes in the status quo EVs suddenly become feasible on shorter timeframes.

> Might also be beneficial on hillclimbs where instant battery capacity may be lacking. Sounds like Norway or Switzerland would be your pilot project. Certainly Norway is all-in on electric. (They can afford to finance the cutting edge.)

Probably. But Washington has the Cascades with existing power lines that have to cross the same mountain ranges as the highways from those wind farms to the population centers around Seattle. I bet there are a lot of opportunities to demonstrate this technology.

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

#325

Post by michaelt »

yurishimo wrote: post #274
notch898a wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

Well, we could have a government policy of subsidising international mail sent from the US.

China does that, for example - which is why you can get a $3 widget on AliExpress sent from China with free shipping.

However, right now congress doesn't act like they're doing that intentionally. That doesn't seem to be the policy they're aiming for.

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

#326

Post by thinkcontext »

notorandit wrote: post #281

I wonder what will happen to the 9250 non-EVs they will replace. Will they end up in the landifll?

Recycled. USPS's fleet is in dire condition with many vehicles past their useful life and being actually dangerous to operate. Not to mention being extremely expensive to operate because of fuel and maintenance of such old stock.

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

#327

Post by globular-toast »

jedberg wrote: post #270
globular-toast wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't introduce lag. At least not in a manual car. By the time you've pressed the clutch down and selected a gear the engine will be ready. You can completely forget about it. If you're talking about automatics then maybe you should get a manual if you are so concerned about lag. Engine start/stop might just be your first "don't like it because it's different" thing.

A manual has the same lag, except you're coving it up by adding clutch lag instead.

Not really. The start/stop system is only activated when the car is put into neutral. This is completely the driver's choice. Most drivers will shift into neutral when they anticipate a longer stop (like when they've just seen the light change red or they've pulled over to take a phone call) and then shift back into gear when they anticipate movement. It's rare to be caught "out of gear" and would generally only happen when the driver isn't paying attention. Nobody shifts into neutral every time the car comes to a complete stop like at a give way sign or in a queue.

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

#328

Post by elihu »

coderenegade wrote: post #197
rootusrootus wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, a long haul semi with multiple drivers is a use case that won't be filled by electric trucks anytime soon. But that's a fairly narrow niche. Even on long haul routes it's pretty normal for trucks to have only one driver and stop for several hours for a rest. With a megawatt charger and 500 miles of range on a charge, even long haul trucking is just a mild engineering problem. For in town trucks the math works o…

A megawatt charger might not be cheaper than fuel. It's a lot of power to dispatch. It'll also still take longer to recharge at that rate than it does to refuel.

On the other hand, megawatt chargers might get cheaper rates because they're buying in bulk, and it's (generally) easier for power companies to provide service to one big customer than a hundred or a thousand little customers.

(That's assuming the infrastructure in the area can accommodate it. I expect any heavily-used truck charging stations are going to be located where the utility hookups are comparatively cheap and easy.)

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

#329

Post by singeezie »

mschuster91 wrote: post #264
vanderZwan wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

> 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. Makes logistics cheaper if you only have one model to take care of, and since these are bespoke vehicles you'll also save on costs because the factory only has to build one variation.

I agree I was in a very very humid jungle like atmosphere near Cambodia and certain EV cars work better in this environment than others where u can adjust certain parameters so that humidity doesnt wear and tear certain components

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

#330

Post by elihu »

concordDance wrote: post #244
xbmcuser wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solar and Wind electric production costs are still dropping by 10-15% a year same for batteries. A lot of people and countries don't realise the electricity revolution that is coming. Cost of production for a lot products will start coming down with cheaper electricity.

Batteries would need an order of magnitude improvement in cost to solve grid storage.

That depends on what problem you're solving and how much you're willing to spend. Some people seem to thing grid storage is a failure if it can't store power in the summer to use in the winter, but that's really not a realistic goal. Storing power during the daylight to use at night is far more reasonable -- expensive, but doable with current technology.

Pumped hydro storage is another option. As is relying not so much on storage but rather expanding grid interconnection. Day/night solar cycles are less of a problem if you can buy and sell power across many time zones.

Post reply on HN