Posted on 03/01/2023 7:46:49 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
US Postal Service to purchase charging stations from Blink Charging Co., Siemens Industry Inc., and Rexel USA Energy Solutions in contracts totaling $260 million.
The U.S. Postal Service is buying 9,250 Ford Motor Co. electric vans and 14,000 charging stations, taking the first step towards the promised electrification of its mail truck fleet.
To meet an "urgent need for vehicles," the Postal Service will also purchase 9,250 gas-powered vans from Fiat Chrysler in North America, which is now part of Amsterdam-based Stellantis. The contracts awarded to Fiat Chrysler and Ford together will total just over $1 billion.
The purchase comes months after USPS announced a plan to spend $9.6 billion on its next generation of mail delivery trucks, of which at least 66,000 are planned to be electric vehicles. $3 billion in planned spending comes from the Inflation Reduction Act. The agency aims to have all newly purchased vehicles be electric-powered by 2026.
Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford will start delivering the left-hand-drive E-Transit vans in December of this year, while Fiat Chrysler will start shipping the left-hand-drive gas-powered vehicles in November.
USPS plans to begin building out its charging station infrastructure across a minimum of 75 locations within the next year, according to a news release.
"We are moving forward with our plans to simultaneously improve our service, reduce our cost, grow our revenue, and improve the working environment for our employees. Electrification of our vehicle fleet is now an important component of these initiatives," said Louis DeJoy, Postmaster General.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
Great now stamps will go for 2.00 a pop
ridiculous...the stop and go will kill it...
It will be interesting to see over the next couple of years once these vehicles go into daily use the unforeseen problems that are sure to arise.
Fire as your meme points out, dead batteries in really winter locations, general overall maintenance, rolling blackouts that prevent charging in certain areas, etc.
My first thought having experienced it:
Technology is never a substitute for good mgt (decision making)
This is a waste of money and it will raise costs, not reduce them.
Did I do the math right? That’s a million bucks per copy?
Actually, small local fleets are exactly the kind of scenario where alternative fuel vehicles might make sense.
A COMPLETE waste of taxpayer money!
$9,600,000,000 ÷ 9250 = $1,037,837. Are you serious?
Assuming the gvt will be honest with us, granted, a LARGE assumption, the next few years could be very interesting for the USPS.
Agree. The postal service is ideally set up for this. Set daily routes that begin and end at the same location and over night charging capabilities.
As well as in-house mechanical specialists.
I don’t see stop and go being much of an issue with EVs. They don’t have nearly as many moving parts as an ICE vehicle. A single charge will probably last for a shift. I’d rather see them purchase regular ICE vehicles because they’ll be cheaper, but for the way they’ll get used, the EVs will probably work.
Define LOCAL
They better work for a million bucks a copy.
Stop and go traffic, with regenerative braking, is where EVs shine.
When the PO goes crying to Congress about escalating costs you can bet they will not admit this boondoggle was a major cause.
Future headline (in addition to postal rate increase requests):
Postal Garage in City X destroyed in major fire.
A new meme will enter the lexicon: Vehicles “going postal”...
;-)
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