USPS is getting new trucks but only 10% are electric

[FakeATF]

38 minutes ago, Rybo said:

Sure they will.  They can put as much battery into these things as they need to get the range they want.  The problem is that each unit of battery reduces the overall efficiency of the package, so that 300 miles of range won't be 100+mpge -- it'll probably be closer to 50-70mpge.  

 

@poochyena
As an EV owner, I can tell you with certainty that 300 miles is NOT 300 miles as it pertains to EV range.  When you're operating a vehicle with 90% energy efficiency, EVERYTHING you do induces losses.  Yes, even turning consumes energy.  Speeding up faster than necessary consumes extra energy.  Stopping too hard consumes energy.  Having a cabin that is constantly dumping cold/heat and having restore the operator's desired temps will consume energy.  Heck, having underinflated tires reduces energy efficiency.  And guess what?  Having a load that goes from 80% of cargo capacity to 10% capacity in the course of a day will take your tires from underinflated to overinflated, so you're not really going to be able to have an optimal tire pressure.  Hell, driving against the wind literally doubled my energy consumption for the trip, and travelling WITH the wind reduced the consumption to zero (not literally -- I started with 120 miles of range and ended the 20 mile trip with 120 miles of range).  

 

That's one saving grace of ICE's (such as it is): they're so inefficient that you don't have to sweat the little things -- they're so inconsequential that they don't affect your vehicle's range.  Only hard accelerations really make a difference.  So if you need consistency above all else, ICE wins handily.  

I don't know what the average load for a mail carrier truck is, (I've also never owned an EV, so take my statement with a grain of salt), but I think that while they could indeed add more batteries for more range, you run into some problems. Adding more batteries gets diminishing returns, as you said yourself with diminishing returns. Batteries are very heavy, and after a certain point they become to impractical to add. Batteries are also pretty expensive, (though the prices have indeed fallen astronomically in recent years) and given how limited the USPS's budget is, I think that they won't go all out in the battery department. They will probably do as many as needed, and that's it.

 

I've always had vehicles with an ICE, because gas is more practical. There are no EV charging stations where I am, and an ICE is cheaper anyway.

 

I think that it boils down to this. The main reason that most of the vehicles are ICE and not electric is that the postal service wants something that is good in most places. Not stuff that is great in some areas and impractical in others. I think that the EV is more of a proof of concept than anything. It says, "Yes, we could make all of the vehicles in our fleet electric, if the charging infrastructure was as universal as gas stations, and the benefits of EV's outweighed the ease of ICE's."

[Rybo]

11 hours ago, EjectedCasings said:

I think that it boils down to this. The main reason that most of the vehicles are ICE and not electric is that the postal service wants something that is good in most places. Not stuff that is great in some areas and impractical in others. I think that the EV is more of a proof of concept than anything. It says, "Yes, we could make all of the vehicles in our fleet electric, if the charging infrastructure was as universal as gas stations, and the benefits of EV's outweighed the ease of ICE's."

I disagree on a specific point but agree in general.  The point I agree on: EV's aren't for everybody, and they're not for everywhere.  I've been calling myself an EV owner, but what I didn't mention is that I got rid of it about 2 weeks ago because I've started taking long road trips and EV became just annoying to own (plus I'm in hurricane country, so having to arrange to borrow a car as a whirling dervish of death slowly approaches was unappealing).  

Where I disagree is the idea that EV's aren't suited to local "last mile" delivery trucks.  On the contrary, I think that is where they can work pretty much anywhere.  You know how long the route is gonna be, where the route is going to go, what weather the route is going to have to drive through, etc, so you can manufacture your truck with enough battery to satisfy the needs of that route.  You're parking the truck at the same place every night, so you can install the charging infrastructure right there.  

It'll definitely cost more up front, but 1) if the environment is a concern to you, then the choice is easy -- if cost is the only downside, it's not really a downside.  2) they will probably cost less over the long haul anyways since pretty much everything will continue to work just fine.  Just replace the battery and you've got a whole new truck.  Granted, that truck will be running on 10/20/30 year old tech, but it's a mail truck.  So long as it's still legally suitable on our roads, you don't need the latest and greatest tech.