I've seen this many times around my work over the last year. I don't know what it's delivery route is but it must be worth it.
Posted on 02/23/2015 6:32:11 AM PST by LogicDesigner
The pack is sized to provide a comfortable range buffer for trucks with predictable daily use, and Amp quotes a range of about 60 miles.
But it also equips the E-Gen with a extender to eliminate range anxiety under unexpected circumstances.
...
Fleet operators used to the costs of buying fuel for 6-mpg delivery trucks will see a clear financial benefit to an electric truck from Day One if they're leasing it, Burns said, when lease payments, fuel, and maintenance are added together.
And that's even without the Federal tax credit for buying a plug-in electric truck, he claims.
The lack of a transmission in electric trucks is particularly appealing to fleet operators, Burns said, who must typically spend significant money on regular transmission maintenance in trucks that operate entirely in stop-and-go traffic.
Many operators, in fact, will save more on the maintenance of their trucks than they do by eliminating or vastly reducing their fuel purchases.
Even for those operators who buy their trucks outright, the payback is between two and three years.
...
And, if the battery pack loses some capacity over that time, "you could burn a little more gasoline," he suggests, and still reap the majority of the benefits of running electrically for the bulk of a truck's daily route.
(Excerpt) Read more at greencarreports.com ...
What ever became of the REOs with the electric chain drive? I seem to recall those trucks when I was a kid growing up in the city. If I remember correctly they had wide wooden spoked tires with a slab of rubber rapped around them. I guess they gave off too much ozone, even back then.
Electric vehicles probably can do well in limited applications. Hybrids likely even more - locomotives are essentially hybrids after all.
Would seem city service is the best application, and that’s conveniently where most of the pollution is. Of course, since the power generation is usually outside the cities, they’re essentially trading polluting flyover country in order to keep cities clean, but if it keeps the fruits and nuts stored in the cities, it’d be a fair tradeoff if we could keep them from exerting their control on the rest of us.
This truck is little more than a gimmick. In the Denver Metro area for example, a truck like this could make MAYBE two deliveries before having to use the “range extending” gasoline engine the rest of the day.
Diesel trucks of course are irreplaceable for long distance deliveries but for local delivery, e-trucks are certainly feasible.
That 25hp engine might drag it off the street to a safe parking place when the battery dies, but at about 5 mph.
I don't know. I think that within the city, delivery trucks spend most of their time in stop and go traffic rather than covering oodles of miles. I can see the 60 miles being enough for a four hour shift, charging over a lunch break, and another 60 miles to finish out the day. With electricity costing about a dollar a gallon equivalent, and extremely high efficiency at low speeds compared to an ICE, businesses can save a lot of money.
How could it possible be tested in the "Houston Galveston" area when it's 60 mile (new) range wouldn't even get it from Houston to Galveston after the first few recharges. It's 60 KW-h battery pack contains about the same energy as you get in one and a half gallons of gasoline. That won't even run the air conditioning in Houston's summers.
“rather than covering oodles of miles.”
Except for the big spread out population centers where most people live, like LA, NYC, Chicago, Denver, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Miami metro areas. Very long distances across those metro areas.
And then there’s the issue of brutal winter and summer temperatures in most of the country where the heater or A/C will suck the life out of the battery in no time flat.
I've seen this many times around my work over the last year. I don't know what it's delivery route is but it must be worth it.
“Except for the big spread out population centers where most people live, like LA, NYC, Chicago, Denver, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Miami metro areas. Very long distances across those metro areas. And then there’s the issue of brutal winter and summer temperatures in most of the country where the heater or A/C will suck the life out of the battery in no time flat.” —catnipman
First off, it is sub-zero temperatures with the heater blasting that really hurt an EV’s range (about 40% reduction worst case). Running the A/C in hot weather has been found to have a much, much smaller impact on battery range. As a Houstonian myself, it seems like a good fit for Houston to me.
Secondly, since it is UPS that is ordering these trucks, I trust that they know a thing or two about route planning. There are a multitude of trucks that UPS deploys in this city every day and I'm sure they have several routes that would be well suited for these trucks: those that are primarily in the city and require a lot of stop-and-go traffic.
locomotives aren’t hybrids.
They simply use the electrical system as a transmission.
They’re only buying 18 to test, which means absolutely zero given that USP has a delivery fleet: 5,759 vehicles and 19,391 trailers.
Average UPS route is 150 miles per day, so doubtful it’ll be very useful at only 60 miles RT with no heat or A/C.
www.browncafe.com/community/threads/average-stops-per-day-delivery-and-pickups.35610/
jobs.aol.com/articles/2010/05/28/fedex-home-delivery-driver/
www.fastcompany.com/3004319/brown-down-ups-drivers-vs-ups-algorithm
Powered by electricity? They mean powered by coal, right?
No one is denying that this is just a tiny test fleet meant to test a new technology.
However, you keep repeating this absolutely false statement that the average route is "150 miles per day"; first on the greencarreports.com article and now here as well. The links you post are just a handful of anecdotal examples, and even so, don't back up your claim. From UPS themselves:
“A typical UPS full-time domestic package car driver makes about 138 stops and travels 98 miles a day. Those are averages, but there are big extremes. In Manhattan, a package car might travel 3 miles in a day, but in Death Valley, it might travel 300 miles a day.”
Since this is just an introductory test fleet of 18 vehicles, UPS will have more than enough routes to choose from where an all-day shift won't even use half of the truck's 60 mile range. Furthermore, future trucks can be fitted with different sized batteries based on the results of this test run.
“Powered by electricity? They mean powered by coal, right?”
No, they mean powered by electricity. Less than 40% of our electricity comes from coal, the rest comes from much, much cleaner sources like natural gas, nuclear, and hydro (source).
Add me to your ping list. NatGas, LP and elec transportation fuels are of interest to me.
Cheers, Otter
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