All of this is due to battery advancement..... which is still the hold back 
from more rapid development of EVs. 
Elon has said he would have Trucks and Semis if he could make enough batteries. 
Other car companies face the same hurtle.And cheap abundant batteries is what 
made the phone smaller.

    On Thursday, February 25, 2021, 6:38:31 AM CST, jamie via EV 
<ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote:  
 
 
Good points about the importance of political/emotional as well as 
technical reasons. In fact the world is constantly changing and things 
can become emotionally cool and politically popular over time.

Technology improves. Clunky satellite phones that cost way too much and 
didn't work that well have morphed into amazing little internet 
communication and computing devices that most people today take for 
granted and wouldn't be without.

EVs are climbing the adoption curve. EVs have become cool. People who 
buy them tend to say they will never go back. Major automobile companies 
are investing heavily into EVs going forward. Local and national 
governments, and some auto manufacturers, are putting a cutoff deadline 
on building and selling new fossil fuel cars.

Tesla, on stock value, has become worth more than the other major auto 
companies combined, or some such, and their cars out-perform gas cars on 
multiple metrics. They can't make them fast enough to satisfy demand. 
We're a long way past the early EV experiments, lead acid batteries, 
really slow charging, and pain cars.

Amazon, FedEx, etc. are moving into EV delivery trucks. There are spiffy 
EV police cars popping up in local police departments. Turns out there's 
money to be saved, along with the technical advantages.

So things change. For an institution that prides itself on having a 
long-term view, it's past time for the post office to get with the 
program. I'll bet that at this point a lot of post office employees 
would agree - along with the bean counters who can foresee significant 
operational savings which the post office REALLY needs.

IOW, just because something didn't work before, within the context and 
technology of earlier times, doesn't automatically mean it won't/can't 
work now when the context and technology has changed and the momentum 
continues to accelerate.

They used to deliver mail with horses.

Cheers,
  -Jamie

PS. Yes, gas engine mechanics may not be happy, (nor will the oil 
industry lobby). But if it's done right, delivery drivers and mail 
carriers, by and large, will be THRILLED to move beyond their ancient 
rattletraps into modern EVs.


On 2/25/21 12:05 AM, Lee Hart via EV wrote:
> Steves via EV wrote:
>> Good article about postal vehicles and why they should be electric.
>> https://www.greatbusinessschools.org/usps-long-life-vehicle/
>>
>> Biggest take aways:
>>   - 96% of them drive less than 40 miles a day.
>> - current vehicles get 9 MPG
>> - 83% are urban (think pollution)
>>
>> Such a perfect fit for an EV
> 
> Ah, but those are the technical reasons. What counts are the political 
> and emotional reasons.
> 
> The USPS has tried EVs quite a few times. They have always "failed"; not 
> for technical reasons, but because the management and postal workers 
> disliked them, and opposed them in every way possible. In extreme cases, 
> the vehicles were even sabatoged to make *sure* they failed.
> 
> My dad was a career postal employee. His "inside view" was that the 
> postal union hated EVs; they were a disruptive technology that got in 
> the way of "how we've always done things". EVs put limits on how and 
> where postal workers could drive them. There was extra record-keeping, 
> and it was harder to charge them than to put gas in. EVs also threatened 
> the postal mechanic's jobs.
> 
> Lower-level managers were also opposed. They didn't like to be told from 
> "on high" how to do things. The postal bureaucracy is strong and deep, 
> and mightily opposed to change. It's going to be mighty hard to overcome 
> that prejudice and inertia.
> 
> Lee Hart
> 

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