USPS seeking replacement for fleet of mail cars

UPS has had a large and varied fleet of alternative fuel vehicles for many years:
Saving Fuel: Alternative Fuels Drive UPS to Innovative Solutions - UPS Pressroom

 

whatever they get, they better be prepared to service them. they drive them hard around here, and put 'em up wet.

 

There's a lot of electric UPS trucks in my city.

 

i wish we'd get some. all diesel, and they stink. fedex too.

 

If its the Grumman LLV - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia they are talking about, the replacement doesn't need to be a full truck. It uses a 4 cylinder that was in GM's previous small pick up, the S10, and it is only a smidge larger than the Mazda5.

A modified C-max hybrid should easily meet the target price. Ideally, the USPS should look for something they could get in BEV or hybrid, either electric or hydraulic. To best serve the post office they are assigned too; BEV for towns with shorter routes, the hybrids for longer routes. of course, if the Bolt delivers as promised, a hybrid may not be needed at all.

 

Actually, a hybrid like the Prius would get the best mileage in the stop and go environment of Postal deliveries.

A special algorithm could be designed for route service.

An electronic shifter, like that one on the shifter, would be much better than the current mechanical one on the Grumman LLV, for the driver and long life.

Whenever the ICE is NOT running like during a stop, while the vehicle is in standby, little battery power is used, and almost no fuel.

That's why hybrids beat even diesels in heavy traffic and stop and go driving.

 

I suggested the C-max because its size and shape are closer to the LLV than a Prius. Also because the chance it will be a Toyota hybrid are nil to zero.

I actually think a hydraulic hybrid would be better since it recapture more energy during braking without a larger battery or capacitor, and less of that energy is lost to the conversion process when accelerating.

But any hybrid will have a larger operating cost than a BEV, and those appear that they will quickly meet the USPS's needs in amount of time this process will take. The Iron Duke engine chosen for the LLV wasn't picked because of its efficiency, but because it was easy and cheap to fix when it breaks. A lone electric drive train will cover both aspects.

 

The advantage of a hybrid car is that it has the best gas mileage at 25 mph and lower because it seldom uses the engine. It will use the engine primarily over 25 mph. Gasoline engines have an inherent fault because their torque is poor at low speeds. They are at their best on the highway. This is why city driving with a Prius has better gas mileage than on the highway. By avoiding panic stops you allow the two motors to do the job of stopping. By doing so you get the advantage of saving your brake pads and get a bonus because the motors charge your big battery. How hard you press on the brake determines whether you use motors, brake pads, battery or a combination of the three. In regular cars, to overcome the fault of the gasoline engine they use a large engine that has greater horse power. A smaller engine would be more practical except for the poor low speed factor. In Indianapolis raceway they know a smaller engine adequate at high speed is better than a larger one with more horse power. The only fault with a smaller engine is that the pit crew has to push it when they finish with their work at the pit stop. The Prius gets by the engine fault at low speed by giving the job at low speed to the two motors (Where they excel) and gives the job at high speed to the engine. This allows the Prius to have their cake and eat it too.

 

Basically, given to the long expected design life of the mail truck of 25-30 years, the hybrid premium paid in 3-5 years, would save money after that time.

Using readily and easy swappable proven inexpensive NiMH batteries would be especially cost effective.

The engine, transaxle and inverter could be modularly designed, also, to easily swapped to keep the vehicle in service, while the module removed is serviced.

Hybrids don't need expensively large batteries like pure electric vehicles.

 

Lithium ion batteries are now cheaper than NiMH. Li-ion has been in use for 5 years of real world driving. The only big issue in reliability involved the Leaf in hot locations. NiMH has hit its limits for hybrids and plugins. Li-ions are still improving in performance and cost. The first gen Volt has used 3 different Li-ion chemistries in its production. It got a range and efficiency boost with the second one, but GM decided not to bother certifying the third one for EPA. Tesla Has also shown that upgrading a pack is possible on an existing car. Going lithium to lithium will likely be cheaper than NiMH to lithium.
Electric vehicle battery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The USPS is already has EV test trucks in service. The program started before 2000, and the BEVs are crude by today's standards.
"Ford selected a vehicle design for the ECRV that has been in commercial service for a number of years. The vehicle body is supplied by Grumman Allied, and is very similar to the LLV body. The chassis of the ECRV is similar to the Ford Ranger Electric Pickup Truck chassis. The Postal Service Make Model code for the ECRVs is MM 12-80.
The ECRVs are designed to operateon routes similar to gasoline-fueled Carrier route vehicles. ECRVs are designed to travel at speeds up to 60 miles per hour and to travel about 40 miles on a single electrical charge, depending on weather and road conditions. The ECRVs are right-hand drive vehicles with similar mail-carrying capacity as LLVs.
The 312-volt traction battery pack includes 39 eight-volt lead acid batteries with optional heater for cold weather climates. The pack is rated at 23kWh and weighs 2,000 pounds."
http://avt.inel.gov/pdf/fsev/usps/fleet/1coverpage.pdf
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/avta/pdfs/fsev/usps/fleet/2summarysections1_3.pdf

The average route distance for these 500 test trucks was 10 miles. I think there are few routes now serviced by the LLV that would be outside of this crude BEV's range. Longer routes are covered by rural carriers using personal vehicles now. Switching to Li-ion or even NiMH will save lots of weight and increase its range. Using the light weight materials now used in cars(high strength steel, aluminum, carbon fiber) will further increase range. So will making it from the ground up as a BEV as opposed to what is basically a LLV EV conversion.

The Leaf has a 75 mile range, and is below the $35k target as is off the lot. Rip out the unneeded seats for cargo space, and it will probably work for a mail carrier. The Bolt will start production in time to be a candidate. Perhaps this the reason GM is moving so fast. A mail version won't need the full 200 miles GM is aiming for, so the battery and range can be shrunk to hit the USPS price mark.

The installation of chargers will add to the upfront cost, but that should be quickly be recouped in fuel savings. They might not be feasible at some post offices, so a hybrid one should also be used. Hydraulic hybrids have been played around with for awhile now. Hydraulic systems have been around for ages, so experienced technicians won't be in short supply.

 

a leaf in the hands of a mail carrier around here wouldn't make it out and back on one charge.

 

Unlike the pope, I have an erasure at the end of my pencil. However, I think the hydrogen vehicle will win the game.

 

All of us should go to a psychologist because we are starting to act normal!

 

Hydrogen is like the flying car; everyone is wondering why it's not here yet, but everyone expects it to be just around the corner.

The problem may not be merely due not lack of technological development; it also has to be economically feasible.

 

That's why I said that it will be a "mild-hybrid" with older proven and less expensive technology.

And, there is no need for a charging station and the need to plug them in every night.

 

Toyota is already selling hydrogen cars in Japan. If there are any bugs in the hydrogen cars it is safer to find them out in Japan than the US. Because the US government is running GM and Toyota took their first place spot away from them, there is bad blood between the two.