No surprise, upcoming UPS vans to be electric from U.K.-based company Arrival

[Milaca]

UPS Vans to Get the Electric Treatment (autoweek.com)



Only 150 miles per charge? Anybody know how many miles a UPS van typically travels in one day?

[studegary]

110 miles average.

[Studebaker Omaha]

I wonder how long it will be before gas powered cars are made illegal, and cars like Studebakers have to be retrofitted for electric use, or forfeited to the government for mandatory recycling.

[Milaca]

I wonder how long it will be before gas powered cars are made illegal, and cars like Studebakers have to be retrofitted for electric use, or forfeited to the government for mandatory recycling.

I don't believe that big-agriculture will allow gasoline engines to be discontinued, as they rely on gasoline engines to burn the corn-based ethanol. If there becomes no need for ethanol, then the government would need to find another market for the corn which could be a difficult task.
Furthermore, I believe that it will take decades to upgrade the grid to handle the increased demand of electricity needed to charge/recharge the EV batteries.

[Jeff_H]

Vehicles like delivery and mail vans, along with busses are a ideal application for Electric or hybrid vehicles. All those stops and starts are terrible for gas mileage but electrics allow for "regen braking" and actually do better in that use as opposed to steady speeds on the highway. Delivery vehicles usually have fixed routes and "go home" to a fleet lot every night so the daily mileage is known and they can get charged overnight.

I don't think gasoline vehicles will ever be totally illegal everywhere but already they are looking to ban them in certain places (London, UK ?). What I think will happen is over time, they fade away as electrics take over. In the early days of autos, fuel was hard to get as everything was set up for horses. No gas stations as we know them. Now, where is there a livery stable in every town to put up your horse overnight while traveling? I think the same will happen with electrics. Gas stations get replaced with charging stations. The thing holding this back is the recharge time and I am certain this gets solved in time. There are A LOT of really smart folks working on this...

[Commander Eddie]

I work in school transportation and there is a lot of chatter right now about electric school buses. They would work just fine for daily routes where mileage is limited, but not so for the class trips we take. It is not unusual for us to send a bus hundreds of miles on a multi-day class trip. We are watching this trend but the price is going to have to go down. Average price for a full size electric school bus is around $400K.

[Milaca]

I agree that delivery vans and school buses are a great application for electric and/or electric hybrid as Jeff mentioned (provided the all-electric versions have enough range for an entire work day). Aside from electric, I have felt for a long time that school buses should be powered by natural gas / propane as they pollute much less than diesel.

[RadioRoy]

..... Average price for a full size electric school bus is around $400K.

What is the average price for a conventional internal combustion school bus?

[Milaca]

[PackardV8]

FWIW, because our daily driver is an electric Chevrolet Bolt, I'm on those fora. The number one complaint/wish for EV owners is greater range and/or shorter charge times. To build in this capability just for the exceptional use would make EVs much more expensive, as the average daily mileage for personal use is 29 miles. The current range of electric cars will cover 99.9% of US daily trips. For the few long road trips, one can rent a gas car, van or SUV.

jack vines

[1inxs]

The day that I’ll believe electric powered vehicles are the future is when a fully loaded 767 flys coast to coast using battery power!

[Dick Steinkamp]

I hate to beat a dead horse, but the Post Office just signed a 10 year multi billion dollar contract for gas powered vehicles.

https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2021/0223-multi-billion-dollar-modernization-of-postal-delivery-vehicle-fleet.htm

They don't understand the present....let alone the future.

[Milaca]

I hate to beat a dead horse, but the Post Office just signed a 10 year multi billion dollar contract for gas powered vehicles.

https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2021/0223-multi-billion-dollar-modernization-of-postal-delivery-vehicle-fleet.htm

They don't understand the present....let alone the future.

This contract may be modified if some members of congress have their way:
USPS Won't Get Many EVs in New Postal Truck Fleet; Politicians Mad (caranddriver.com)

[tsenecal]

Most of our trips away from home are from 300 to 600 miles, with a diesel one ton pulling a 28' Airstream. There really is no electric replacement for that purpose at this time. I'd love to have an electric car for local trips, close to home, but the fuel savings would never begin to pay for the cost of the EV.

[DEEPNHOCK]

I have seen quite a few electric UPS package cars in US urban areas. No big deal.