50% lower operating costs
 

It is a perfect fit. They do on avg 110 miles per day with most of that being short hops between stops.

UPS invested in them and ordered 10,000 vans

I dunno what fraction of their vehicle fleet it is; the UPS guy here did tell me he makes 150 to 200 stops per day (!)

UPS is also trying to head off the Amazon e-van delivery service, as is FedEx

Looks like they are buying 10,000 with another 10,000 possible. Going to replace 2,000 per year as the old ones wear out. They have about 55,000 of the old style in the US.

I asked my guy how many stops he made in a day. He said I was his next to the last stop and I was 137. Damn, I said.

One issue, in many of these vehicles, the batteries become a large part of the load.

In some locations, the local authorities are looking to replace several trash collection vehicles with electric. The problem? They cannot carry as much garbage, because of the weight of the batteries. They can only carry about 1/2 of the load of a CNG fueled vehicle.

True. Luckily, packages are pretty light in wt.

Wonder how much they invested for the claimed 50% reduction in costs ;)

Vehicle cost is similar. Operating cost is about half.

https://www.pressroom.ups.com/pressroom/ContentDetailsViewer.page?ConceptType=PressRelease s&id=1567522217503-928

Since 2009, UPS has invested more than $1 billion in alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles and fueling stations globally. And, in 2016, a full year earlier than expected, UPS achieved its self-set goal of covering 1 billion miles (1.6 billion km) using its fleet of alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles.

What happens after this wholesale conversion to electric vehicles overwhelms the power grids? UPS are, of course, not the only ones on this path.

We just removed one dam from our Columbia river system, to much fanfare and ballyhoo.

grid needs work even w/o EVs

The power companies are "in on it."

That truck still needs a driver.... more $$ >> robot version.

I have a colleague working on the next big UPS vehicle purchase

Confluence... the car replaces the horse, indoor plumbing, electricity, moon landing, internet... yada yada yada

all of it, faster than any of it, and all at the same time.

Confluence

Gotta try to avoid being "Amazoned" in more ways than one.

Like it or not, electric vehicles are a good fit for in town fleets like UPS, USPS, trash Uber Lyft. Regional travel can be done efficiently with LPG and diesel is still the choice for long haul.

In 10 years or so we should have Thorium Type IV reactor prototypes the size of an office desk that can run continuously for years and have zero chance for meltdown or radioactive fallout. Technology is racing forward exponentially.

I wouldn't hold my breath.

2035 is slow for for a "first-mover" state. Money talks.

I suspect Small Modular Reactors will be scattered around the country, eliminating the need for a massive grid. A big user like UPS might have its own reactor in large markets and sell access to cities for their fleet of trucks. It could be completely separate from the public grid.

Purchase price is the same, operating cost is 50%, but it doesn't say what their payload is. I'd suspect with the heavy batteries, the payload would be around 50%. So that would mean UPS has to pay twice as much for vehicles to deliver the same number of packages at the same operating cost.