USPS Forges Ahead with Gas-Powered Mail Trucks Despite EPA's Desire for EVs

Re:USPS Forges Ahead with Gas-Powered Mail Trucks Despite EP... by colechristensen on Wednesday February 23, 2022 @05:41PM (#30447597)

There would also be a considerable infrastructure charge at every post office and practical considerations of being able to supply adequate materials to actually build all of the mail trucks... on top of that batteries which will degrade, especially faster as some mail vehicles will be used > 100 miles a day.

I think it's still fair at this point to think conversion of an enormous fleet of vehicles might not yet be the pragmatic choice.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:USPS Forges Ahead with Gas-Powered Mail Trucks Despite EP... by KennyBlanken on Wednesday February 23, 2022 @06:03PM (#30447877)

It does not have to be an all-or-nothing affair.

The USPS doesn't even provide vehicles to a lot of rural route carriers; they get a stipend and have to purchase their own. They've been replacing LLVs with various sprinter vans and minivans for certain areas and route types.

They recently solicited designs for a new mail truck and that should have included drivetrain flexibility. Major car manufacturers have been doing this for at least half a decade, designing cars that are built to take an ICE, hybrid, or EV drivetrain instead of an EV or hybrid drivetrain being shoe-horned into a body only intended for an ICE drivetrain.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:USPS Forges Ahead with Gas-Powered Mail Trucks Despite EP... by zacharycohn on Wednesday February 23, 2022 @07:09PM (#30448564)

So make that infrastructure publicly accessible during the day and BOOM* you just deployed a publicly funded charging network across most of the country.

*Obviously it's not quite as simple as "boom" but you get the idea.

[ Parent | on HN ]