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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

#471

Post by 7speter »

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #435
7speter wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, hopefully they tested range for the coldest days in winter in that region as well, considering an aerodynamically optimized tesla gets 200 mile range in optimal weather conditions (i.e. sunny day in Los Angeles/the bay area)

They do not need the trucks to work in the most extreme cold and rural routes. A lot of low hanging fruit in electrifying easy targets: urban delivery in warmer climates. For instance, a delivery truck in LA might only ever go tens of miles per day and never see cold weather. At the scale of USPS, this could bee hundreds of thousands of trucks.

The comment im replying to literally says that theres a route in iowa with a distance is 181 miles. I dont understand why theres so much gaslighting in this whole comment thread.

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

#472

Post by ed25519FUUU »

throwaway742 wrote: post #297
wpm wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IL also sells off something like 250MW of excess power but it’s just like that all the time since it’s all coming from our nuclear plants.

I wish we would build out nuclear here in CA.

Thankfully we were able to save Diablo. I can't believe how close we came to shutting it down.

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

#473

Post by Reubachi »

Retric wrote: post #428
Reubachi wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

C'mon guys. "Relatively trivial" is not the two words I would use to describe electrifying highway grids. And to convert road vehicles to conduct off that highway? The words I would use to describe/implement that is "Absolute Taxpayer Aversion". Billions and billions in R&D with no guarantee of adoption and likely greater operating costs for 10s of reasons.(Maintenance, contract costs, accidents, teething. Many count…

There is zero need to electrify dirt roads, just specific loans on ~1% all us roads due to that 100 mile range battery I just mentioned. We had electric trollies 140 years ago and modern trains have surfaces in contact at 3x the speeds and much higher power draws. Trucks in comparison don’t need constant power, so you can maintain the line without interfering with traffic. But you don’t need to trust me it’s a proven…

Agreed, my point on dirt roads doesn't make much sense.

But point still stands, if state govt's struggle to repave arterial roads every few years to the standards of our taxes, do we think any national gov't would shoulder paying 10,0000 times that cost yearly to maintain bleeding edge technology across 100k highway miles?

In the 19th-20th century rail/trolley was used in the same way municipal buses are now. Great for absolutely defined schedules across short distances for local residents. Do you see that scaling up to highways though? Even if we used old school powered rail and cable technology to charge up highways for big rigs only, that would be such an unfathomable, enormous cost to implement and maintain. We can't maintain the rail network in this country, which is dwarfed in size by highways.

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

#474

Post by ed25519FUUU »

throwaway742 wrote: post #296
ed25519FUUU wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don’t realize it because they don’t get any of the benefits. Electricity costs are rising across the country almost without exception. Meanwhile California is paying other states to take electricity because they generate so much excess power during the duck curve (while simultaneously having rolling blackouts)

I've lived in California for decades and have never experienced a rolling blackout. The only times my power has gone out was because of maintenance, one particularly bad thunderstorm, and drivers crashing into the poles.

Whether or not you get a black out or a "flex alert" depends entirely on where you live. PG&E avoids cutting power to the rich people who live in the SF bay valley, and instead cuts it to the rural and outskirt areas.

https://sf.curbed.com/2019/10/9/20906839/map-pge-blackout-po...

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

#475

Post by sgt »

kalleboo wrote: post #312
jedberg wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most cars in the US are automatics, and it does introduce a lag. I turn it off the moment I turn on the car. It caused me to almost have an accident when I was in stop and go traffic, specifically because of the lag. The person behind me did not expect me to start so slowly right after stopping (I had to wait for the engine shutoff and then to turn back on).

I've had rental cars where it had an annoying lag and every start felt like a start from cold (ra-ta-ta-ta-voom), but in my current car there is no lag, by the time I've lifted the brake the engine is ready to go. An auto-stop start is also much quieter than starting from zero. I'm not sure what it's doing - this car has an ISG (integrated starter-generator), I'm not sure if that's the difference.

What car is this? Seems like they are making improvements in this technology, then.

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

#476

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

lowercased wrote: post #388
gffrd wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

First time I traveled from US to Europe was Spain in 1988, and I was interested to see Burger King and McDonalds there. A decade later, visiting the UK, I was 'surprised' a bit to see so many 'US' brands there. Mid 2000s - visited Shanghai - so many Western/US brands, didn't feel much different than being in NYC. 2010s - visited Russia and Romania - again, many US brands there (or other European/UK brands I knew). I…

I remember being in Italy(?) about 30 years ago and for whatever reason my friend went into a Blimpie's, of all places! Once they realized he was American, they gave him free food in exchange for a critique of how their sandwiches tasted compared to the ones over here.

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

#477

Post by oluwie »

yurishimo wrote: post #280
zirgs wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

USPS trucks that deliver mail aren't driving more than 100 miles (rarely) a day. I'm pretty sure these trucks can be on a 2-3 day recharge cycle and still have plenty of juice left even if they don't hit those recharge cycles.

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

#478

Post by sagarm »

ed25519FUUU wrote: post #107
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.

They don’t realize it because they don’t get any of the benefits. Electricity costs are rising across the country almost without exception. Meanwhile California is paying other states to take electricity because they generate so much excess power during the duck curve (while simultaneously having rolling blackouts)

No blackouts here. Rural blackouts are more common in high wind situations to mitigate wildfire risk. It's just the reality of living in the WUF.

75% of electricity costs in California come from the grid, not generation. Grid costs recently are up due to wildfire mitigation for power to rural communities.

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

#479

Post by sagarm »

ed25519FUUU wrote: post #474
throwaway742 wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've lived in California for decades and have never experienced a rolling blackout. The only times my power has gone out was because of maintenance, one particularly bad thunderstorm, and drivers crashing into the poles.

Whether or not you get a black out or a "flex alert" depends entirely on where you live. PG&E avoids cutting power to the rich people who live in the SF bay valley, and instead cuts it to the rural and outskirt areas. https://sf.curbed.com/2019/10/9/20906839/map-pge-blackout-po...

That's because they chose to live in the wildlife-urban interface, where wildfire risks are elevated. Note the article talks about damage to power lines. The shutoffs were not related to a lack of capacity.

Rural grid connection and maintenance costs are heavily subsidized by urban electricity users already. These subsidies should be applied for rather than being hidden so it's clear to everyone they exist.

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

#480

Post by angry_octet »

robertlagrant wrote: post #331
angry_octet wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Additional protection would keep them 99% dry instead of 90% dry even in a storm. Right up to the point where they have to deliver a letter, where they would be 0% dry. It's more important to be able to get in and out easily.

I'm wondering whether you agree with the commenter that the claim about the vehicle in this regard is likely exaggerated.

"Protection" does not mean absolutely proof against. But even more, "calling BS" implies that the statement is not just wrong, but deceptive, and I completely disagree with that premise. (Which is additionally a claim it would be idiotic for them to make for an occupant likely wearing a rain coat.)
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