US Postal Service Launches Electrical Automobiles, Now Do Elections

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The US Postal Service is getting an enormous, inexperienced thumbs-up for launching a brand new fleet of electrical autos. Nevertheless, Postmaster Basic Louis DeJoy remains to be within the hotseat over mail supply snafus within the leadup to Election Day 2024, which simply goes to indicate that fleet electrification shouldn’t be 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 in regards to 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after Related Press reporters David Sharp and Ron Harris recapped the company’s magical journey from a fleet of skanky outdated pollution-spewing neighborhood mail supply vehicles right into a fleet of name new however weird-looking supply autos.

To be clear, not the entire new supply autos are electrical. Actually, most of them are usually not electrical. The USPS fleet makeover saga started again in 2021, when Postmaster DeJoy proposed to switch the Postal Service’s getting older gasmobiles with new supply autos, underneath the moniker NGDV (brief for Subsequent Technology Supply Automobiles).

The first goal 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 referred to as for under about 10% of the brand new supply vehicles to be electrical.

Extra Electrical Automobiles 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 facet, although, Oshkosh had engaged in important EV partnerships by the point it received the Postal Service contract. On the time, CleanTechnica additionally famous that Oshkosh designed its NGDV to accommodate both battery-electric drive or a traditional gasoline 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 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 means of with funding to extend the variety of EVs within the Postal Service fleet. To get that carried out, the Postal Service switched gears. As an alternative of solely deploying bespoke NGDV electrical autos from Oshkosh, the brand new plan entails extra off-the-shelf purchases, like the Ford E-Transit supply van. EV startups like Canoo may be within the working (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 useful recap of DeJoy’s fleet makeover pledge. By the numbers, the Postal Service is buying a complete of 106,000 autos by means of 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 Automobiles?

In case you’re questioning about gasoline cell electrical autos for the Postal Service, that’s query. The prevailing consensus is that the marketplace for passenger vehicles and different gentle obligation 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 delivery stakeholders within the space of heavy obligation autos, together with Class 8 vehicles equivalent to these utilized by the Postal Service and its carriers. Final 12 months the longtime Postal Service provider AJR Trucking dropped a touch in that path when it put in an order for 50 Class 8 heavy obligation gasoline cell electrical vehicles from the US agency Nikola Motor. No phrase but on whether or not or not these particular vehicles shall be carrying any hundreds for the Postal Service, however the wheels are in movement.

The AJR order from Nikola is being crammed by means of the California truck vendor Tom’s Truck Middle, which simply turned the primary industrial 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 considerations 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 critical questions on processing facility operations, misplaced or delayed election mail, and front-line coaching deficiencies impacting USPS’s potential 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 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 native election officers want a dedicated companion in USPS. We implore you to take quick and tangible corrective motion to handle 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 for those who 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 kinds.

In case you plan to use 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 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.

You probably have some other suggestions or steering for brand new voters, drop a word 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 Defense).