USPS Seals Gasoline-Trucks Deal, Shunning Biden EV Plea

[SuperDS77]

This is great news. Decisions being made in the interest of the American taxpayer. Of course, the usual suspects are apparently going to sue. Not sure what rational standing the environmental groups have, but they will make their case. Cost effective electric vehicles for a project this large do not exist. The financial situation of the USPS does not give the luxury of making a decision to spend a great deal more $$ with no measurable benefit.

USPS Seals Gasoline-Trucks Deal, Shunning Biden EV Plea

(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Postal Service has finalized a contract to replace its mail-truck fleet with almost all gasoline-powered models, drawing an angry…

financialpost.com

Bloomberg News
Ari Natter and Jennifer A. Dlouhy
Publishing date: Feb 23, 2022 • 1 hour ago

"(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Postal Service has finalized a contract to replace its mail-truck fleet with almost all gasoline-powered models, drawing an angry response from Biden administration officials who unsuccessfully pushed the agency to buy electric vehicles instead.

The record of decision signed Wednesday represents the culmination of a failed lobbying effort by the Environmental Protection Agency and top Biden administration officials to persuade the Postal Service to shift course. The independent agency can now move forward with its $6 billion plan to begin purchasing as many as 165,000 mail trucks over the next 10 years from Wisconsin military truck maker Oshkosh Corp. As many as 90% of those will run on gasoline instead of more climate-friendly batteries, according to the plan...

“Our commitment to an electric fleet remains ambitious given the pressing vehicle and safety needs of our aging fleet as well as our fragile financial condition,” DeJoy said in a news release. “The process needs to keep moving forward. The men and women of the U.S. Postal Service have waited long enough for safer, cleaner vehicles.”

The authorization is unlikely to be the last word on the matter.

Environmental groups are preparing to swiftly challenge the move in federal court, arguing the Postal Service is illegally justifying its decision with a fundamentally flawed analysis of the purchase plan that underestimates greenhouse gas emissions, relies on faulty economic assumptions and fails to consider alternatives. "

 

[tacomancer]

DeJoy is indeed a shit show

 

[KingLeo]

It's the pro-Trumper DeJoy.
No surprise.
And since under federal law the president is barred from terminating the postmaster general under any circumstances.
DeJoy should resign immediately.

 

[SuperDS77]

DeJoy should resign immediately.

Why? For making a financially prudent., yet politically unpopular, decision for the American taxpayers? The USPS workers are likely happy with this as well.

He deserves a raise...

 

[Schism]

Another defeat for Team Brandon.

 

[KingLeo]

Why? For making a financially prudent., yet politically unpopular, decision for the American taxpayers? The USPS workers are likely happy with this as well.

He deserves a raise...

'Financially prudent'?
So spending billions on gas powered vehicles while ignoring the wealth of evidence that transitioning to an electric fleet would save money long term while cutting pollution and protecting public health.
DeJoy is a typical Trump flunkie.

 

[SuperDS77]

So spending billions on gas powered vehicles while ignoring the wealth of evidence that transitioning to an electric fleet would save money long term while cutting pollution and protecting public health.

Am I just supposed to take your word for it that he is "ignoring the wealth of evidence that transitioning to an electric fleet would save money long term"? Perhaps you could "spread the wealth" like the great Obama said?

I am not convinced that it would save money. Maybe in 20 years it makes sense.

 

[Integrityrespec]

'Financially prudent'?
So spending billions on gas powered vehicles while ignoring the wealth of evidence that transitioning to an electric fleet would save money long term while cutting pollution and protecting public health.
DeJoy is a typical Trump flunkie.

Hogwash! It was campaign hype and the left swallowed hard. After 5.5 trillion expenditures this past year we need to worry about being financially responsible but electric is expensive.

 

[j brown's body]

We al, love

Hogwash! It was campaign hype and the left swallowed hard. After 5.5 trillion expenditures this past year we need to worry about being financially responsible but electric is expensive.

Maybe we could ask, nicely, for the rich to pay taxes?

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Am I just supposed to take your word for it that he is "ignoring the wealth of evidence that transitioning to an electric fleet would save money long term"? Perhaps you could "spread the wealth" like the great Obama said?

I am not convinced that it would save money. Maybe in 20 years it makes sense.

Explain specifically WHY electric mail trucks wouldn't make sense for 80 percent of the population.
Give specifics.

Here's mine:
1. The average postal truck never travels more than approximately 30 miles a day.
2. The average postal route involves speeds UNDER 50 mph.
3. Almost ALL vehicular postal routes involve a tremendous amount of stop and go driving.
4. The typical postal delivery vehicle is never more than ten miles from its home post office.

A. Given the short distances of most postal delivery routes, it's not even necessary to engage the LATEST battery technology.
Short distances are easily handled by cheaper battery packages.

B. Given that most postal delivery routes do NOT involve travel at freeway speeds, it's not necessary to have postal vehicles with Tesla level performance.

C. Given that most postal routes are driven during the day, there is ample charging time every single day.

D. The overall cost per mile is a fraction of gasoline vehicles.

And last but not least, the new Oshkosh vehicles barely get better gas mileage than the old Grumman trucks.
They didn't even TRY to make them economical.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Am I just supposed to take your word for it that he is "ignoring the wealth of evidence that transitioning to an electric fleet would save money long term"? Perhaps you could "spread the wealth" like the great Obama said?

I am not convinced that it would save money. Maybe in 20 years it makes sense.

An hour and a half later and all I hear is crickets.
That's because the DeJoy defenders are full of shit.
They don't know about electric vehicles, they don't understand what the job of a postal vehicle really is, and they're just interested in submitting
knee-jerk reactionary posts because someone at Fox or OAN told them to.

 

[MTAtech]

This is great news. Decisions being made in the interest of the American taxpayer. Of course, the usual suspects are apparently going to sue. Not sure what rational standing the environmental groups have, but they will make their case. Cost effective electric vehicles for a project this large do not exist. The financial situation of the USPS does not give the luxury of making a decision to spend a great deal more $$ with no measurable benefit.

USPS Seals Gasoline-Trucks Deal, Shunning Biden EV Plea

(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Postal Service has finalized a contract to replace its mail-truck fleet with almost all gasoline-powered models, drawing an angry…

financialpost.com

Bloomberg News
Ari Natter and Jennifer A. Dlouhy
Publishing date: Feb 23, 2022 • 1 hour ago

"(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Postal Service has finalized a contract to replace its mail-truck fleet with almost all gasoline-powered models, drawing an angry response from Biden administration officials who unsuccessfully pushed the agency to buy electric vehicles instead.

The record of decision signed Wednesday represents the culmination of a failed lobbying effort by the Environmental Protection Agency and top Biden administration officials to persuade the Postal Service to shift course. The independent agency can now move forward with its $6 billion plan to begin purchasing as many as 165,000 mail trucks over the next 10 years from Wisconsin military truck maker Oshkosh Corp. As many as 90% of those will run on gasoline instead of more climate-friendly batteries, according to the plan...

“Our commitment to an electric fleet remains ambitious given the pressing vehicle and safety needs of our aging fleet as well as our fragile financial condition,” DeJoy said in a news release. “The process needs to keep moving forward. The men and women of the U.S. Postal Service have waited long enough for safer, cleaner vehicles.”

The authorization is unlikely to be the last word on the matter.

Environmental groups are preparing to swiftly challenge the move in federal court, arguing the Postal Service is illegally justifying its decision with a fundamentally flawed analysis of the purchase plan that underestimates greenhouse gas emissions, relies on faulty economic assumptions and fails to consider alternatives. "

Private taxi fleets are moving to EV because it is cheaper for them. Electric power is cheaper than gasoline and EVs have a fraction of the maintenance of gasoline vehicles. So, it makes economic sense for USPS to move to EV.

But you don’t care about facts. You just have an irrational desire for any plan of Biden’s to fail. You really don’t care if the Postal Service moved forward and taxpayers save money. You just get a boner when something Biden wants doesn’t happen. It’s sad that you don't want the best for your country and cheer when a president that does care about America has a setback.

 

[roguenuke]

Why? For making a financially prudent., yet politically unpopular, decision for the American taxpayers? The USPS workers are likely happy with this as well.

He deserves a raise...

Do you think you know how USPS workers feel for what reason?

Electric vehicles are much more reasonable and future oriented investment.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Private taxi fleets are moving to EV because it is cheaper for them. Electric power is cheaper than gasoline and EVs have a fraction of the maintenance of gasoline vehicles. So, it makes economic sense for USPS to move to EV.

But you don’t care about facts. You just have an irrational desire for any plan of Biden’s to fail. You really don’t care if the Postal Service moved forward and taxpayers save money. You just get a boner when something Biden wants doesn’t happen. It’s sad that you don't want the best for your country and cheer when a president that does care about America has a setback.

It's not even Biden's plan. The first program to convert USPS to majority electric was in 2005.
And that's because postal trucks DO NOT NEED TO BE ****ING TESLA sports cars!
Most postal routes in most parts of the country could be completed with glorified GOLF CARTS.
That's because most postal trucks don't drive on the freeway, they crawl city surface streets, usually
under 45 mph or they crawl stop and go style through neighborhoods.

We would even save money if they just WENT with glorified golf carts if you could make the dumb things
last for 20-30 years. That's the point...post offices only need vehicles that can go 45-50 mph tops,
they only need about 30-45 mile range and they can afford to go with SLOW charging
because most postal delivery vehicles SIT ALL NIGHT after the post offices are CLOSED.

The US Postal System is perhaps the very BEST candidate for an 80% electric fleet there ever was in history.
But Trump morons can only yabber "Biden bad, Biden bad, electric bad" because Tucker Carlson says so.

The electric postal fleet idea first got legs in the ****ing BUSH ADMINISTRATION!

 

[Taylor]

Wow, these things are ugly. Just my humble opinion. But look to be much safer than what we have now.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

Why? For making a financially prudent., yet politically unpopular, decision for the American taxpayers? The USPS workers are likely happy with this as well.

He deserves a raise...

It’s not politically unpopular.

It’s only a fringe minority that care about forcing fringe technology.

 

[MTAtech]

It’s not politically unpopular.

It’s only a fringe minority that care about forcing fringe technology.

You sound like the people 100 years ago yelling at motorists, “get a horse!”

 

[KingLeo]

Hogwash! It was campaign hype and the left swallowed hard. After 5.5 trillion expenditures this past year we need to worry about being financially responsible but electric is expensive.

Electric is more expensive than gas? No.
The only real problem with electric vehicles right now is that there are not enough charging stations. But there are proposals to remedy that situation also.
And why invest billions more on gas vehicles when there are better alternatives for the long term?
The USPS uses more than 200,000 vehicles across the US for residential and commercial mail delivery.

 

[coyote505]

Electric postal vehicles would make a lot of sense IF we had a green electric grid with ample capacity. We Don't. In my state, the powers that be have mandated the electric utility to close its coal plants, shed its interest in an out of state Nuke plant, and NOT have any gas powered back up/peak shaving capacity. We are anticipating rolling blackouts this summer, because the solar projects have been delayed by Covid. No one ever considered a backup plan or a safety margin.

They are telling us to turn our thermostats up. I use a little less than 300 KwH per month in my home. A Ford F150 Lightning is said to hold 100 KwH per charge. My total electric use is less than THREE fill ups for the Ford. If my neighbor buys one, how high will I have to set my stat, and how many hours will I have to do without my CPAP, to make up for this?

Hybrid vehicles would make sense now. Plug in vehicles--maybe in 20 years.

 

[MTAtech]

Electric postal vehicles would make a lot of sense IF we had a green electric grid with ample capacity. We Don't. In my state, the powers that be have mandated the electric utility to close its coal plants, shed its interest in an out of state Nuke plant, and NOT have any gas powered back up/peak shaving capacity. We are anticipating rolling blackouts this summer, because the solar projects have been delayed by Covid. No one ever considered a backup plan or a safety margin.

They are telling us to turn our thermostats up. I use a little less than 300 KwH per month in my home. A Ford F150 Lightning is said to hold 100 KwH per charge. My total electric use is less than THREE fill ups for the Ford. If my neighbor buys one, how high will I have to set my stat, and how many hours will I have to do without my CPAP, to make up for this?

Hybrid vehicles would make sense now. Plug in vehicles--maybe in 20 years.

Post #14 undercuts everything in this post.

 

[MTAtech]

Electric is more expensive than gas? No.
The only real problem with electric vehicles right now is that there are not enough charging stations. But there are proposals to remedy that situation also.
And why invest billions more on gas vehicles when there are better alternatives for the long term?
The USPS uses more than 200,000 vehicles across the US for residential and commercial mail delivery.

For Postal vehicles charging stations are irrelevant. They return at night and can be charged.

 

[coyote505]

Post #14 undercuts everything in this post.

And the lack of grid capacity makes your post absurd.

 

[Lovebug]

From the OP
"Cost effective electric vehicles for a project this large do not exist."
I don't think it has to happen all in one day.

 

[CaughtInThe]

DeJoy simply made a short term decision.

Lots of CEOs make mistakes. DeJoy doesn't have to worry about being around long term though.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

You sound like the people 100 years ago yelling at motorists, “get a horse!”

There’s literally not enough minerals on earth to build enough electric cars to replace regular cars.

The plan is just to force the majority of people to not have a car.