The current fleet of delivery trucks used by the United States Postal Service have stood the test of time, but their high maintenance costs mean it’s time to retire the iconic boxy vehicles.
The USPS began soliciting bids in 2016 and five finalists now remain in the running: they are Workhorse/Hackney, AM General, Karsan, Mahindra, and Oshkosh.
Two of the finalists offer electrified options—Workhorse and Mahindra—and environmental groups are urging the USPS to choose an electric future over one powered by fossil fuels.
In fact, 13 groups penned a letter to the USPS last week in an attempt to persuade the government entity to choose an electrified delivery truck. Read more
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, 13 environmental groups working on clean transportation solutions sent a letter to the United States Postal Service (USPS) urging them to select plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) for the next generation of delivery trucks. A switch to electric delivery trucks will both benefit the health of employees and neighborhood residents by reducing their exposure to harmful emissions, and will cut down on fuel and maintenance costs while helping the Postal Service meet its sustainability goals.
Two of the five vehicles USPS is considering for the next generation of delivery trucks are plug-in models. The winner of the contract will be announced in early 2018. If an electric model is selected, the USPS fleet would be the largest electric vehicle fleet in the world.
In response, Sierra Club Clean Transportation for All Director Gina Coplon-Newfield released the following statement:
“Because the Postal Service delivers to every address in the nation, they have a unique responsibility to consider the impacts of their trucks on its employees, neighborhood residents, and taxpayers. From the public health benefits to cost reductions, electric delivery trucks make sound sense for the USPS. With electric delivery trucks, neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night will stop the delivery of climate action by the United States Postal Service.”
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Why not buy Brown UPS trucks and convert them to RIGHT HAND DRIVE?????? On the other hand, Why are we doing parcels only to lose more and more money?????
The President wants coal powered engines in new vehicles. America is against progress.
Are they kidding??? That would be the equivalent of replacing all letter carriers with robots…..that’s impossible because robots aren’t advanced enough to do the job! Well, the same can be said for electric vehicles….they aren’t advanced enough to do the job the current LLVs do everyday!! Maybe in 20 years they will be ready? I can remember having a hard time finding a place to plug in the diesel (during cold weather) 2 ton trucks…..can you imagine ALL the proposed LLV replacements (electric) having to be plugged in….it would be a cluster you know what!
Electric vehicles will do really well when it’s winter and below zero in Northern Michigan trying to run a heater on electric or they won’t put a heater in it at all.
Keep in mind that everything that Postal Management gets involved in turns to crap.
electric out for 12 hours on one charge…….in your dreams sweatheart!
I’m in favor of this, but I fear if they do it the batteries will die half way through the route. Same problem we are having with the scanners. Post office has a habit of getting stuff that works at first and then goes to crap after they own it with no solutions in sight and no accountability on the manufacturer/suppliers part. Maybe high bred technology would make more sense??
pfffft. Time any new trucks get issued, Amazon will have dumped this clown show long before, and then it’s lights out.