GCR: States and environmental groups sue USPS over gasoline mail delivery trucks

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GRA

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https://www.greencarreports.com/new...groups-sue-usps-gasoline-mail-delivery-trucks


A coalition of environmental groups and over a dozen states filed lawsuits Thursday against the United States Postal Service (USPS) over plans to replace mail trucks with a majority-gasoline fleet.

A new mail truck design from defense contractor Oshkosh was unveiled in February 2021, with plans to make just 10% of the fleet electric. That immediately drew criticism, as the outgoing Grumman "Long Life Vehicle" (LLV) trucks were widely expected to be replaced by fully electric trucks.

Now a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice, CleanAirNow KC, the Sierra Club, and the Center for Biological Diversity in the Northern District of California—joining that filed by 16 states—alleges that the USPS signed a contract with Oshkosh before a proper environmental analysis was conducted, or before accurate costs for electric vehicles were determined.

The analysis used to justify the plan for a mostly-gasoline fleet included unrealistically high battery-cost projections, with gas-price projections that were unrealistically low, the Sierra Club said in a press release.

The USPS used an estimate of $2.19 per gallon, projected to increase to $2.55 per gallon by 2040, according to the Sierra Club. The analysis also assumed suitable EVs would achieve no more than 70 miles of range, the organization said.

Gasoline versions of the new mail truck are expected to average 8.6 mpg with the air conditioning running, which is worse than the Grumman LLV trucks got when new, the Sierra Club noted. And because mail trucks travel an average of 20 miles per day and are parked in a centralized location at night, they're "especially prime for electrification," the group argues.

In addition to the lawsuit by the environmental groups, 16 states including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington filed their own lawsuits against the USPS Thursday, along with the District of Columbia, City of New York, and California's Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

The USPS initially pushed ahead with its plan despite requests from the White House, EPA, and members of Congress to reconsider its environmental analysis and add more electric vehicles to the order.

Recently the USPS upped its order of electric trucks amid controversy, but it's unclear whether that actually means more for the entire production, given that it doesn't rework the contract.


If there's one commercial usage for which BEVs are ideal and capable of handling the vast majority of the job right now, its local mail and parcel delivery.
 
I can understand the hesitation of the USPS to field large numbers of BEVs until they go through durability testing.

The HD market has been notoriously terrible at providing quality reliable battery solutions.
Best example was all the 1st Gen Amazon delivery trucks that were scrapped after 3-5 years service. Most Smith BEVs got a 3 year life as well.

Many EV buses have also had pathetic service lifespans

The ideal drivetrain for a postal truck would be the Ford Escape, Prius Prime or Volt PHEV system as not all postal vehicles drive in predictable conditions and the USPS likely doesn’t want to carry a recovery vehicle at each location .

Give it time, if the HD market is able to develop a mature day in day out solution like they have for consumers the model mix could pivot.

Right now there is still a lot of low quality battery and control systems in the market, we will get bulletproof eventually (as we have to, you can’t save the planet if cars don’t last 20 years+ it’s all apart of the equation)
 
If this can gets kicked down the road again, then it will finally be official: the powers that be are going to let the ecosystem melt down in the interest of fiscal prudence.
 
rmay635703 said:
I can understand the hesitation of the USPS to field large numbers of BEVs until they go through durability testing.

The HD market has been notoriously terrible at providing quality reliable battery solutions.
Best example was all the 1st Gen Amazon delivery trucks that were scrapped after 3-5 years service. Most Smith BEVs got a 3 year life as well.

Many EV buses have also had pathetic service lifespans

The ideal drivetrain for a postal truck would be the Ford Escape, Prius Prime or Volt PHEV system as not all postal vehicles drive in predictable conditions and the USPS likely doesn’t want to carry a recovery vehicle at each location .

Give it time, if the HD market is able to develop a mature day in day out solution like they have for consumers the model mix could pivot.

Right now there is still a lot of low quality battery and control systems in the market, we will get bulletproof eventually (as we have to, you can’t save the planet if cars don’t last 20 years+ it’s all apart of the equation)


I'm all in favor of dem/val testing to prove performance/durability/lifespan/TCO, but that's not the issue here; the USPS signed a contract saying they're simply going to buy X number of those vehicles, and only Y will be BEV. Not "the number/percentage will increase each year as we get more confidence in them", but "we're committing to a majority in both numbers and percentage of ICEs no matter how things develop", and that's unacceptable.

Mail trucks aren't that different from golf carts as far as speeds and ranges. They're a bit faster and longer-ranged, but the distance between stops and the stop times are very similar, and electric golf carts have been in use successfully for decades using typically six flooded L-A 6-volt ~200Ah "golf cart" batteries in series. Climate and terrain are obviously going to vary a lot more for mail delivery than for golf, but then we're not talking about using 100 year-old battery tech either, and there are plenty of urban mail routes right now where neither is a significant issue.
 
You do realize the USPS can buy the contracted numbers as slowly or quickly as they want?

It is common within the military and government to put on the brakes of order quantities and model mixes on a wim.

They may want them all at once or may drag it out,

They usually have delivery goals but the post office has dragged this process out what? A decade?

Don’t be surprised if things change, secondary contracts or extensions occur.

Once deliveries occur let’s see what we get
 
One thing I'd like to comment on is the idea that battery technology isn't yet good enough for Postal Service trucks. Unlike the consumer automotive market, where manufacturers are perpetually trying to extend range and performance, the niche in question here, with its more modest range and performance needs, could be filled with LFP (LifePo4) batteries. They have a lower energy density than other types of lithium batteries, but are safe, long-lived, and reliable. A postal truck with LFP batteries, equipped with battery warmers and possibly cooling, could easily meet the specifications required, and do it for a decade or more, with no drama or replacement. The batteries would work for both the BEV and PHEV configurations. The only thing standing in the way of electrified Postal Service trucks is the pro-ICE bias of the USPS management.
 
rmay635703 said:
I can understand the hesitation of the USPS to field large numbers of BEVs until they go through durability testing.

The HD market has been notoriously terrible at providing quality reliable battery solutions.
Best example was all the 1st Gen Amazon delivery trucks that were scrapped after 3-5 years service. Most Smith BEVs got a 3 year life as well.

Many EV buses have also had pathetic service lifespans
Do you have sources for the above? I was unaware of any of the above, esp. Amazon.

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/transportation/introducing-amazons-first-custom-electric-delivery-vehicle was dated Oct 2020. Were there earlier ones or did Amazon receive those earlier and they were scrapped?

It sounds like Smith Electric went under. I had seen some of the trucks in the wild before including unloading at a Target.
 
USPS expects to only buy electric delivery vehicles starting in 2026
The agency expects to deploy at least 66,000 EVs by the end of 2028.
https://www.engadget.com/us-postal-service-hopes-electric-delivery-vehicles-2026-171507258.html
 
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