USPS Testing E450 chassis with electric motor and step van body

[Pleasant Travels]

A lot of people are wondering what the future of vanlife might be like in the Tesla age. If these end up hitting the used vehicle market in 5 to 10 years,...who knows?

https://insideevs.com/usps-tests-ford-e-450-electric-vans/

USPS could purchase thousands of EVs, but will they?
The United States Postal Service (USPS) starts a new pilot EV project in which it will test seven all-electric step vans, supplied by Motiv Power Systems. The first one was already delivered and now serves routes in Fresno.
Motiv Power Systems builds its EVs using the Ford E-450 as a base and EPIC Chassis with 106 or 127 kWh battery packs for about 90 miles of range.

 

[KarlH]

The postal service has a lot of short routes (including between branches), so an electric van could work pretty well for them.

There are a few things to watch out for when considering an electric powertrain in a truck or RV:

- The Volt and the Model S get their range from low drag, which isn't possible in a large vehicle unless you make it long and low.

- Electric motors don't have much braking/regeneration ability at low speeds. Tesla compensates by spinning the motor at up to 20,000 RPM and driving the wheels through a steep gear reduction, but that makes the controller, spindle, stator and transmission more expensive and it decreases peak efficiency.

- You will need a propane/gas/diesel furnace.

- The cost of increasing battery capacity is higher than the cost of increasing the size of a fuel tank. (The comparison to propane or compressed natural gas is probably closer.)

 

[Thecampulanceman]

I just spent 4 years managing the US production facility of company that supplied the USPS with shelving and delivery carts for their new Transit vans. We shipped kits for 20,000 vans to the upfitter who was taking delivery of the vans directly from Ford, performing the upfit, then loading the vans back on the trains for distribution throughout the US.
So I know there are thousands of traditional Transit cans hitting the road for the post office.

Side note is that all of this upfitting was being performed in Mexico. Not what I'd like to see our tax dollars spent on.