Featured President wants to replace government fleet with EV's.

None of the other vendors who bid has a proven battery or drivetrain.

price on the others was also “high”

So Who should be the vendor?

 

What was OshKosh's EV record?
They had a second bid with Ford that was modified Transit vans. Transits EVs will likely be the 'off the shelf' models the USPS gets.

 

I think the American Company Ford and their etransit vans are excellent contenders.

 

A very long time ago George Washington warned against having political parties and questioned if people were smart enough to vote for individual people or would just vote for a party. Wonder if his fears over 200 years ago are actually a reality today.

I haven't voted a straight ticket since I began voting over 50 years ago.

 

Those didn’t exist in time for the bidding

Ford did not cooperate to meet the chassis requirements

The Post office doesn’t want a standard off the shelf body as it violates their safety, ergonomic and volume requirements
AKA an automatic failure to get the contract.

Now if they want “supplemental civilian “ delivery vehicles they may buy, (individual offices have) just won’t buy large volumes unless a custom chassis is provided by a 3rd party to meet the contractual requirements.

 

Which is likely why that bid was eliminated early on, but it doesn't change my point that Oshkosh was lacking in EV experience like every one else. The contract did have an EV requirement from the beginning.

"The new plan calls for buying 60,000 "Next Generation Delivery Vehicles" from Wisconsin-based Oshkosh, 45,000 of them electric, plus another 21,000 off-the-shelf electric vehicles from mainstream automakers."
USPS is switching to electric mail trucks, in reversal for Trump-era postmaster general

As a stop gap, the USPS has been buying 'civilian' vans before the contract winner was announced to replace older LLVs and 'civvies'; mostly Mercedes Metris. I'm guessing most vehicle purchases are handled above the individual office level.
https://tiremeetsroad.com/2020/05/25/usps-replace-17300-grumman-llvs-turbocharged-mercedes-metris-vans-three-years/

For the 21k, what options are there besides the E-Transit? Workhorse? Canoo? Guess it could also include smaller commercial trucks in the number.

 

You will note “very specific offices” are getting e-transits as a stop gap, AKA they aren’t spreading them around,

Not sure I understand how they distribute to only one state of the union but I have my guesses.

 

The Amazon delivery vans being made by Rivien look like a good match.

Having seen the tall eTransit up close, it would be an excellent option.

Bob Wilson

 

Well, I can't imagine they'll be terribly useful for most residential route services if they are off-the-shelf. The post office still needs plenty of ordinary left-hand-drive vans to do bulk deliveries, pickups, express mail and so forth, so I'd guess that's how they would use the Transits.

Then they have to select the runs which are properly covered by range and charging opportunities.

I'd think by the time you've filtered all that, it would be a list of "very specific offices."

 

Ford Will Continue To Offer Right-Hand Drive Vehicles: Report (fordauthority.com)
"The automaker recently reiterated its commitment to right-hand drive vehicles in Australia and other global markets, according to CarExpert."

I believe Etransit vans already come in right hand drive in Europe where they are currently sold - maybe not.

I am seeing 126 miles of electric range for the Etransit vans as their standard - that should be enough range for many Post Office daily applications - maybe not their more extreme applications.

There is something to be said for the Post Office to adapt to an off the self-commercial vehicle as much as possible for cost, maintenance and replacement reasons.

Doesn't mail delivery in most instances mean sitting in a seat opening a mail box and inserting letters then closing the mail box. I have seen drivers using Prius and even mini trucks like a ranger delivering mail around here.

 

The big thing to consider is that most routes are established by the time required to complete them rather than the number of miles they cover.

Driving range is not a big energy demand for route service. 7+ hours of heat or A/C demand with a window open is.

 

We had a mailbox out on a paved Street off our gravel road along with maybe another 10 properties when we lived more remotely than we do now. That lets the mail carrier save a couple miles at our stop as well as several others throughout the rural parts of our city.
Where we live now - the mail carrier stops to deliver at a ~5 dozen mail box central neighborhood location that also includes a dozen or so packages type boxes. So that means the carrier doesn't have to drive around a few miles of typical neighborhood streets - for each residential central mailbox location.
Probably wouldn't hurt if other neighborhoods Incorporated that principle just for the economics.
.

 

The Post Office has had the mailperson park the truck, and then deliver mail on foot to the block or so in most towns for years now. The side cargo door requirement is so they can get mail out of the truck for this while on the sidewalk.