The U.S. Postal Service has a lot of vehicles on the road every day through mud and sleet and all that. Their vehicle fleet is one of the largest on the planet. They’ve long had efforts to study alternative fuel vehicles and recently announced a one-for-one replacement of 6,500 vehicles with 1,000 E-85 ethanol-capable and 900 gasoline/electric hybrid vehicles to its delivery fleet. They’re also buying some new efficient four-cylinder vehicles to replace aging vehicles and also contribute to a reduction of their fleet size. These 1900 vehicles will bring their alternate fuel-capable fleet to 43,000 vehicles.
The Postal Service has increased alternative fuel use by 41 percent since 2006, and plans to reduce petroleum use by 20 percent over the next five years. Replacing aging vehicles with more fuel-efficient and alternative fuel-capable vehicles is key to reaching that goal. “This is a unique opportunity for the Postal Service to continue work on our goals for improved fuel economy, greenhouse gas reductions, and on our position as an environmental leader,” said Wayne Corey, manager, Vehicle Operations, who is overseeing the vehicle delivery.
Some other alternative fuel projects include:-
- Trial use of the T3 scooter for mail delivery, made by T3 Motion. The T3 is powered by two rechargeable batteries, has zero gas emissions and costs 4 cents a mile to operate.
- Testing two fourth generation fuel-cell Chevrolet Equinox hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, which are delivering mail in Irvine, CA, and in Washington, DC. (note: the CARB program was dissected in an earlier article
and deployment of fuel cell vehicles in California results in a huge ZEV credit multiplier)
- Using 35 delivery vehicles in Florida that run on propane fuel.
- Running 300 vehicles nationwide that are powered by biodiesel fuel.
For more info:
- We must pressure Biden over climate despite choosing Kerry as climate representative - November 25, 2020
- Tesla Autopilot danger from “passive vigilance” effect - October 24, 2020
- CALFire seizes PG&E equipment investigating cause of Zogg Fire in 2020 wildfire season - October 10, 2020
- Protect yourself from unhealthy air in wildfire zones - September 12, 2020
- 5+ million acres burned, choking smoke, Climate Change accelerated - September 12, 2020
- La Nina develops, promising longer 2020 fire and hurricane season - September 10, 2020
- California wildfires 2020, over 2 million acres burned - September 9, 2020
- Disease risk higher in highly polluted areas – COVID-19 risk greater? - April 1, 2020
- Conservative values failing USA as EPA guts fuel efficiency standards, fails with COVID-19 response - April 1, 2020
- SunSpec aims to help Veterans transition to clean energy jobs - March 31, 2020