[IMGLINK]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs563.ash2/148544_1677608467974_1470388190_31669203_7619989_n.jpg[/IMGLINK] saw this while going to pick up my Son from preschool. this is a great idea especially now during the start of the holiday package season. hope they stay dry!! had record rainfall yesterday, but its sunny today. **edit** pic is a bit tough to see, should have done a side profile pic but what you are looking at is two trikes with a large basket in the back. two UPS guys are in the process of loading the packages from the truck for delivery. there is probably 100 houses within a mile of where they are parked (near middle of my housing development)
UPS could be doing a lot more - I often see the same truck and driver several times a day, going back and forth. Electric trucks would help, but cargo bicycles would be even better.
i agree, package delivery along with mail delivery would be a perfect place for EV's. most have set routes so the range is predetermined and i am willing to bet that the average delivery route is much less than 100 miles. i did know a mailman (he now works a central sorting station) and his route was less than 25 miles. but it was over 180 stops which means his gas mileage was probably in the 20's at best.
Fleet maintenance would be far less, too. EVs in general are much cheaper to operate than 'stinkers'.
probably closer to 5mpg given that he's probably accelerating over a lot of that distance and then idling for quite a bit of it too.
not much of an accomplishment for an area that has not allowed a gas burning vehicle in over 50 years!!
UPS does make a lot of right turns! Sorry if this was already posted...I'm new here. UPS Takes Left Turns Out of Deliveries : NPR
Ya know, there was a time when cars were considered less polluting than horses. At least you don't have to shovel it. Maybe we should all write UPS and suggest they use EVs? And more bicycles.
EV range may be a bigger issue in the delivery business than to the typical person. How far does one truck go in a day? The BEV Transit Connect has a 80 mile range. They'd be great for suburban and urban mail delivery. Don't know about companies that may have a less set route. Wasn't UPS testing the hydrallic hybrid system on some trucks? What became of that?
EVs wont be a 100% solution and a vehicle reported to get a 100 mile range, any scheduler would be foolish to schedule more than 70 miles because of the constant stop and go. but i am confident that more than a small percentage of the routes could be done with EVs easily.
I observed a CNG UPS truck driving through Rocklin this week but to balance that vehicle I saw another one that was puffing smoke and stunk like a mofo! Here is an old report reviewing their CNG vs. diesel trucks. Here is another article on UPS and CNG.
WHAT IF??? What if when the government tookover/bailed out GM they had also created a large incentive/motivation for a car company to develop a low cost EV. They could have done this by requiring a certain percentage of government & utility vehicles to be full EV. Many (not all) mail routes, utility meter reading routes, building inspectors, etc., etc. have daily routines that would fall within an EV range. These uses ideally compliment an EVs range with overnight charging. If the mandate assured a annual market of 100,000-200,000 plus EVs per year, it would help get EV/Battery production and R&D jump started. This would be a win/win, users get a dependable vehicle that has lower fuel and maintenance costs, the car company gets an assured market and future private owners get a car with the bugs already solved and the advantage of large scale production runs. What if the US was the leader in EVs???
I wish that more diesel trucks were required to install particulate and NOx traps. The vast majority of diesel trucks (of all sizes) around here spew out tons of crap and stink to high heaven. CNG - EV - diesel emissions controls would go a long ways towards cleaning up the air.
I often sigh when I see postal delivery vehicles (usually the jeep type) sitting and idling on street corners... or even the start up/shut down cycle that occurs regularly. In our small town, the postal jeeps move about a block, then shut down, while the carrier walks the four blocks to deliver mail, then hops back in the jeep, moves another block, and does those four blocks. Why not EV? WHY?!!?!!
Tell me about it! I have been incredibly sick this last month and last Sunday we decided to take a relaxing drive to a small grove of giant sequoia. On the very scenic road to the grove we drove with the windows down and enjoyed the fresh air and smells from the riparian vegetation below us. That is until a 2006ish Ford F-250 pulled in front of us. Going up and down the hills the truck emitted smoke and smelled horribly of diesel. We were forced to roll up the windows and turn on the AC for the rest of the 35min. drive. I was NOT happy to say the least!
Yeah, I hate that. Especially when the kids are in the car we pretty much always drive with the windows up, A/C on and air on re-circ mode. Funny - I don't seem to remember the fumes when I was a kid and we never had AC - must be more aware of it now?
That is sad. But I'm happy to hear you are doing the best thing possible in that scenario. Unless the toxic fumes emitted by out gassing plastics and fabrics in the car is worse. Hmm that would be a good subject for a new study. I think we noticed it because we are hyper aware of the emissions put out by some of these diesels. It's kind of like a smell version of a search image. A condition where your mind does not notice certain things until it has a solid mental picture of the object. It's like when you buy a new car and suddenly you start seeing the same car everywhere but you don't ever remember seeing so many before.
I talked to my office UPS delivery person about a month ago, and asked him about his Hybrid - low emissions truck he was driving that day. He actually hates it. He liked the idea of a low emissions truck, but it was poorly designed. I dont remember everything, but he said that it has difficulty with hills, because it lacks to power that a regular truck can handle. And is worried about winter when the roads and hillls are slippery. The other issue he has with it, is that it will shut off after 5 secs or so of idling. Which means he has to restart his truck a lot, and causes delays at traffic lights. I haven't talked with him lately, maybe I will try and talke to him this week, and see if things have gotten any better.
