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Only a hybrid/electric will work with all that stop and go. However, these units take a beating and have to be built to truck standards. Anything else is going to fall apart or not last more than a few years. If there is no such heavy-duty hybrid/electric available and they end up with a gas-fed trucklett, what would be cheaper? Having to replace a relatively new fleet of fragile hybrids or paying more for gas per year with a robust truck? Curious
Either a hybrid gasoline-electric or all-electric drivetrain would work well for stop-and-go delivery vehicles. There are no factory-built hybrid nor electric vehicle small delivery trucks but there are after-market solutions to retrofit the drivetrains.
As I remember, Canada Post wanted to test the Transit Connect EV as mail delivery vehicles. The idea was that these "last mile" small delivery vehicles that are dispatched from a central depot for short-distance stop-and-go deliveries and then return to the central depot for overnight battery recharging should work well; the problem is that batteries do not perform well in cold climates. I do not know if Canada Post has any of these EVs in service.
Either a hybrid gasoline-electric or all-electric drivetrain would work well for stop-and-go delivery vehicles. There are no factory-built hybrid nor electric vehicle small delivery trucks but there are after-market solutions to retrofit the drivetrains.
I'll agree that gas/electric hybrids may be a viable option, but I'm not sure about an all-electric. Unless you used some really advanced components (which are expensive) like what are found in Teslas, the batteries would drain rather quickly, especially in bad weather when accessories like lights, wipers, heater, defroster, etc.....were being used. This might not be a problem near cities and in densely-populated areas (or where overnight chargers are in plentiful supply), but could be in rural areas and small towns where distances between residences.....and post offices.......are much greater.
Agreed - this is one of the few cases where a hybrid system would probably actually pay off in fuel savings.
Hey we agreed for once
But instead of having Toyota building a bunch of US spec Prius with Japan's right hand drive hardwares for $20k a vehicle, they are going to have GM create a whole new car for $100k each like bagwell mention
Or convert some like FedEx did to hybrid vehicles. It's pretty cool to "hear" them whiz by silently with only the sound of the electric motor
FedEx Diesel-Electric Hybrid delivery truck
That being said, Ford of Canada is selling the fullsize Transit as well as the Transit Connect. I'm not sure if FoMoCo in the States is selling them too.
The Transit Connect is rated at 21mpg city (11.3L/100km) for the 2.5L Duratec engine so while it's double of the old vans, it's not that much better (expect the 20mpg to drop once you factor in mail-delivery-style driving). The 1.6L Ecoboost is rated at 10.6L/100km (22mpg) city.
What I'm getting at is that reducing fuel costs and maintenance costs (especially at the cost of a significant capital outlay) won't solve any of the real financial calamity that is the USPS, and perhaps that's where the focus should be. Especially when we see such absurdity as the request factoring in package delivery - how about we leave package delivery to existing private companies that risk their own money and focus on how to make mail service not cost taxpayers billions of dollars a year.
And since you asked, I do the responsible thing and reject all mail at my residence. That's right - the postman doesn't even stop at my house and I get no mail. Why should I sit here and suck up taxpayer money because the USPS doesn't charge enough for mail to get delivered to me?
USPS Chooses Oshkosh Defense to Replace Its Mail-Delivery Trucks
The elderly Grumman LLVs, in service since at least 1994, will be replaced by trucks with airbags and A/C. The design is yet to be finalized, but some will be electric.
I know that some people on Car Chat don't like me talking about Saturn, but, IMO, this is just one more reason to lament the passing of the brilliant S-series. Saturn used to do a right-hand-drive version of the SW-2 wagon, aimed primarily at the USPS, for use in rural areas where the carrier/driver would drive up to the mailbox, open the window, pull the box-lid open, drop in the mail, close the box, roll the window up (or, keep it down if the weather was nice), and go on to the next mailbox.
I know that some people on Car Chat don't like me talking about Saturn, but, IMO, this is just one more reason to lament the passing of the brilliant S-series. Saturn used to do a right-hand-drive version of the SW-2 wagon, aimed primarily at the USPS, for use in rural areas where the carrier/driver would drive up to the mailbox, open the window, pull the box-lid open, drop in the mail, close the box, roll the window up (or, keep it down if the weather was nice), and go on to the next mailbox.
Wouldn't this be part of the evidence of why Saturn ultimately couldn't make it? Trying to boost sales by re-configuring this model for USPS duty? This isn't even really a good USPS vehicle -- it's not easy for the driver to access the cargo hold; he/she would need to physically step out of the vehicle to do so. Seems there are multiple reasons no other manufacturer re-configured any models for USPS use.
Not to mention this:
For reasons all too understandable, Saturn sales in Japan never quite took off. The brand managed to sell just just over a thousand vehicles in the first year, and a grand total of 4,324 cars over four model years, stretching from from the 1997 through the 2000 model years. An economic downturn in Japan that coincided with Saturn's launch didn't help matters either, one which was prompted by a consumption tax that caused the private car market in Japan to shrink by over 10 percent.
Needless to say, this volume of sales was not enough to cover the investment in right-hand drive versions of three models, and some kind of other outlet was needed that didn't involve more launches in more countries.
Sales targeting the U.S. Postal Service came to a mild kind of rescue, as Saturn sought to compete in the very narrow niche of providing right-hand drive vehicles to rural route carriers -- a demographic catered to almost solely by Subaru and Jeep in the 1990s.
02-19-15, 05:46 AM
