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The US Postal Service is getting a giant, inexperienced thumbs-up for launching a brand new fleet of electrical autos. Nevertheless, Postmaster Common Louis DeJoy continues to be within the hotseat over mail supply snafus within the leadup to Election Day 2024, which simply goes to point out that fleet electrification shouldn’t be the identical factor as getting all these mail-in ballots delivered to the elections workplace on time.
Electrical Autos For The US Postal Service
Information concerning the Postal Service’s model new fleet of electrical autos lit up the Intertubes this week, after Related Press reporters David Sharp and Ron Harris recapped the company’s magical journey from a fleet of skanky previous pollution-spewing neighborhood mail supply vehicles right into a fleet of name new however weird-looking supply autos.
To be clear, not all the new supply autos are electrical. The truth is, most of them will not be electrical. The USPS fleet makeover saga started again in 2021, when Postmaster DeJoy proposed to exchange the Postal Service’s ageing gasmobiles with new supply autos, below the moniker NGDV (brief for Subsequent Era Supply Autos).
The first intention was to repair important points regarding driver security and luxury. With a lot of the authentic fleet previous its supposed 25-year lifespan, gasoline effectivity and fleet reliability additionally wanted critical consideration. In different phrases, fleet electrification was an afterthought. The preliminary proposal known as for under about 10% of the brand new supply vehicles to be electrical.
Extra Electrical Autos For The US Postal Service
Environmental organizations and different automobile electrification advocates quickly cried foul over the snub. Including gasoline to the hearth of shock, the NGDV contract went to Oshkosh Protection, a agency not notably identified for its work within the electrical automobile discipline.
On the plus aspect, although, Oshkosh had engaged in important EV partnerships by the point it gained the Postal Service contract. On the time, CleanTechnica additionally famous that Oshkosh designed its NGDV to accommodate both battery-electric drive or a traditional fuel engine relying on regardless of the Postal Service needed, which partly accounts for the bizarre, waddling silhouette of the automobile.
Reportedly, plans have been additionally within the works to make the engine retrofit-friendly, in case the Postal Service was ever of a thoughts to take away the engines and substitute them with electrical drive someday sooner or later.
That did little to mollify the critics. In response to the hubub, Congress got here by with funding to extend the variety of EVs within the Postal Service fleet. To get that finished, the Postal Service switched gears. As an alternative of solely deploying bespoke NGDV electrical autos from Oshkosh, the brand new plan includes further off-the-shelf purchases, just like the Ford E-Transit supply van. EV startups like Canoo can also be within the operating (see extra reporting on the Postal Service’s EV plans right here).
Of their reporting for AP, Sharp and Harris spotlight a number of enthusiastic opinions of the brand new electrical autos from Postal Service staff who’ve been driving them round. The 2 reporters additionally present a useful recap of DeJoy’s fleet makeover pledge. By the numbers, the Postal Service is buying a complete of 106,000 autos by 2028, together with 45,000 electrical NGDVs and 21,000 off-the-shelf electrical autos of 1 kind or one other. Reportedly the plan additionally calls for brand new automobile purchases to be electric-only starting in 2026.
What About Gasoline Cell Electrical Autos?
In case you’re questioning about gasoline cell electrical autos for the Postal Service, that’s a very good query. The prevailing consensus is that the marketplace for passenger automobiles and different mild responsibility autos is a troublesome nut for gasoline cells to crack. The Postal Service itself has been assessing gasoline cell electrical vans for the reason that early 2000’s with out gaining a lot traction.
Nevertheless, there’s nonetheless some exercise amongst transportation and transport stakeholders within the space of heavy responsibility autos, together with Class 8 vehicles reminiscent of these utilized by the Postal Service and its carriers. Final yr the longtime Postal Service provider AJR Trucking dropped a touch in that route when it put in an order for 50 Class 8 heavy responsibility gasoline cell electrical vehicles from the US agency Nikola Motor. No phrase but on whether or not or not these particular vehicles will probably be carrying any masses for the Postal Service, however the wheels are in movement.
The AJR order from Nikola is being crammed by the California truck vendor Tom’s Truck Heart, which simply grew to become the primary business truck dealership to host a modular hydrogen fueling station on its premises. Nikola expects the modular station to be upgraded to a everlasting fueling facility by 2026.
Electrical Autos Good, Election Safety Higher
The Workplace of the Chief Sustainability Officer of the US notes that the Postal Service’s new goal of 66,000 electrical autos surpasses the goalpost for federal fleet electrification set by the Biden administration. That, together with plans for putting in 1000’s of recent EV charging stations, was spectacular sufficient to earn the Postal Service a 2024 Presidential Sustainability Award within the class of “Electrifying the Federal Fleet.”
“The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is leading by example,” the Sustainability Workplace explains, referring to fleet electrification.
As for election safety, not a lot. On September 11, state and native elections officers from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and all of the US territories, despatched an open letter to DeJoy outlining their considerations about mail supply main as much as Election Day 2024, on Tuesday, November 5.
“Over the course of the last year, election officials across the country have raised serious questions about processing facility operations, lost or delayed election mail, and front-line training deficiencies impacting USPS’s ability to deliver election mail in a timely and accurate manner,” the group states.
Citing a latest USPS Workplace of Inspector Common Audit of readiness for the 2024 election, the group zeroes in on systematic lapses in coaching, system-wide supply delays, and a big enhance within the quantity of mail mistakenly marked “undeliverable,” all or any of which may impression voters’ registration standing or in any other case stop them from voting.
“State and local election officials need a committed partner in USPS. We implore you to take immediate and tangible corrective action to address the ongoing performance issues with USPS election mail service,” the group concludes.
Don’t Simply Stand There — Do One thing
Whereas state and native elections officers duke it out with USPS, you possibly can take some key steps to verify your vote counts.
Examine your registration standing now, even for those who by no means had an issue together with your registration earlier than.
If you happen to’re eligible to vote however haven’t registered but, do it now. Contact your native elections workplace to get directions and types.
If you happen to plan to make use of a mail-in poll, contact your native elections workplace to seek out out when you possibly can count on to obtain it. Contact them once more if it doesn’t come by that date. When you get it, fill it out and ship it again instantly earlier than it will get misplaced in your to-do record.
In case your state has early voting days, discover out the place your early voting location is, and vote early. Don’t threat lengthy strains and delays at your common polling place on Election Day.
In case you have every other suggestions or steerage for brand new voters, drop a notice within the remark thread. Higher but, inform your folks.
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Picture (cropped): The US Postal Service is lastly pumping extra electrical autos into its fleet, however elections officers wish to see an election safety plan, too (NGDV rendering courtesy of Oshkosh Protection).
