US Postal Service Launches Electrical Automobiles, Now Do Elections

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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 Basic 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 is just not the identical factor as getting all these mail-in ballots delivered to the elections workplace on time.

Electrical Automobiles 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 vans right into a fleet of brand name new however weird-looking supply autos.

To be clear, not the entire new supply autos are electrical. In actual fact, most of them should not electrical. The USPS fleet makeover saga started again in 2021, when Postmaster DeJoy proposed to interchange the Postal Service’s growing old gasmobiles with new supply autos, beneath the moniker NGDV (brief for Subsequent Technology Supply Automobiles).

The first purpose was to repair important points referring to driver security and luxury. With a lot of the unique fleet previous its supposed 25-year lifespan, gasoline effectivity and fleet reliability additionally wanted severe consideration. In different phrases, fleet electrification was an afterthought. The preliminary proposal known as for under about 10% of the brand new supply vans to be electrical.

Extra Electrical Automobiles For The US Postal Service

Environmental organizations and different car electrification advocates quickly cried foul over the snub. Including gasoline to the fireplace of concern, the NGDV contract went to Oshkosh Protection, a agency not notably recognized for its work within the electrical car discipline.

On the plus facet, 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 standard gasoline engine relying on regardless of the Postal Service needed, which partly accounts for the bizarre, waddling silhouette of the car.

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 exchange 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 performed, 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 might 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 critiques of the brand new electrical autos from Postal Service workers who’ve been driving them round. The 2 reporters additionally present a helpful 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 car purchases to be electric-only starting in 2026.

What About Gasoline Cell Electrical Automobiles?

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 vehicles 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 because the early 2000’s with out gaining a lot traction.

Nevertheless, there’s nonetheless some exercise amongst transportation and delivery stakeholders within the space of heavy responsibility autos, together with Class 8 vans resembling these utilized by the Postal Service and its carriers. Final 12 months the longtime Postal Service provider AJR Trucking dropped a touch in that course when it put in an order for 50 Class 8 heavy responsibility gasoline cell electrical vans from the US agency Nikola Motor. No phrase but on whether or not or not these particular vans might be carrying any masses for the Postal Service, however the wheels are in movement.

The AJR order from Nikola is being stuffed by the California truck supplier Tom’s Truck Heart, which simply turned 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 Automobiles 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 hundreds of latest 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 main by instance,” 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 issues about mail supply main as much as Election Day 2024, on Tuesday, November 5.

“Over the course of the final 12 months, election officers throughout the nation have raised severe questions on processing facility operations, misplaced or delayed election mail, and front-line coaching deficiencies impacting USPS’s capacity to ship election mail in a well timed and correct method,” the group states.

Citing a current USPS Workplace of Inspector Basic Audit of readiness for the 2024 election, the group zeroes in on systematic lapses in coaching, system-wide supply delays, and a big improve within the quantity of mail mistakenly marked “undeliverable,” all or any of which might influence voters’ registration standing or in any other case forestall them from voting.

“State and native election officers want a dedicated accomplice in USPS. We implore you to take quick and tangible corrective motion to deal with the continued efficiency points 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’ll be able to take some key steps to verify your vote counts.

Verify your registration standing now, even in the event you by no means had an issue together with your registration earlier than.

In case you’re eligible to vote however haven’t registered but, do it now. Contact your native elections workplace to get directions and varieties.

In case you plan to make use of a mail-in poll, contact your native elections workplace to search out out when you’ll be able to anticipate 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 checklist.

In case your state has early voting days, discover out the place your early voting location is, and vote early. Don’t danger lengthy strains and delays at your common polling place on Election Day.

In case you have another ideas or steerage for brand new voters, drop a be aware within the remark thread. Higher but, inform your pals.

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Picture (cropped): The US Postal Service is lastly pumping extra electrical autos into its fleet, however elections officers need to see an election safety plan, too (NGDV rendering courtesy of Oshkosh Protection).