Will Canada Post Deliver the Electric Car?
Switching the massive mail fleet to e-vehicles could make green cars cheaper for everyone.
Return to sender: 59,000 tons of carbon per year.
In a climate of surging fuel prices and environmental concern, it's cost, more than technology, which still presents a major barrier to the adoption of electric cars.
But the mailman could play a role delivering a battery-powered, zero emission future on the roads.
Canada Post represents one of the largest transportation fleets in the country.
Its armada of 7,000 mostly gas guzzlers traveled than 76 million kilometers of roadway last year, burning up 24 million litres of fuel and pumping out 59,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in the process. Those figures are separate from the 45,000 tonnes of CO2 that Canada Post's rural and suburban carriers emitted as part of their work.
Canada Post's Green Targets 'Postponed'
In 2007, Canada Post projected it would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 14 per cent by 2012. But already, the Crown corp. admits its financial situation, caused by"“the current global economic downturn," will seriously affect its green targets.
"Our low level of profitability has limited the funds available... forcing us to postpone energy-efficiency initiatives that could have reduced emissions from our buildings," Canada Post's social responsibility report states.
And a "new delivery model" could even see many letter carriers who now deliver on foot be plopped into vehicles.
"The new model... will contribute to a significant increase in the size of our fleet," the report states.
Present sources of Canada Post's GHG emissions, and their percentages of the whole, are: Buildings: 43 per cent; Fleet: 28 per cent; Rural/suburban fleet: 21 per cent; Planes: 8 per cent.
As part of the flagship fleet of a federal government that's looking to encourage fuel-efficient vehicles in the consumer market, the typical Canada Post delivery truck isn't exactly a beacon of progress in the public sector.
But with clearly defined, relatively short delivery routes in urban centres, today's already available electric engine technology could be well suited to Canada Post’s needs.
The idea isn't merely symbolic.
A move to electrify the fleet could provide a crucial spark needed to ignite a homegrown electric truck industry and boost development in the consumer market.
A market 'ready to explode'
"The electric vehicle market is ready to explode," says Mike Elwood, chair of the Canadian Electric Vehicle Technology Roadmap, the federal working group examining how to advance EVs in Canada.
"But it's not up to capacity. All the pieces of the puzzle exist, but there's just no scale right now," says Elwood, also vice-president of marketing at Azure Dynamics, which sells hybrid electric trucks.
If a major player like Canada Post were to move to electrify its fleet, it could kick-start the industry.
"It would be amazing," Elwood said. "You'd start to see capacity increase, you'd see costs coming down. You'd see lots of things happening, all on the positive side of the ledger."
But despite a long interest in going electric, Canada Post has taken only a few cautious steps to transform its fleet towards alternative fuel technology.
US report green lights electric mail vehicles
The wheels are already in motion elsewhere. France's postal service, La Poste, is testing electric delivery vehicles, with the aim of integrating 500 into its fleet immediately after a successful test, the first batch from a target of 10,000 within five years.
And south of the border, the U.S. Postal Service has been studying the idea closely. A recent draft study and slide presentation prepared by staff for one of the independent members of the U.S. Postal Commission, a body that has regulatory oversight over the Postal Service, recommended fleet electrification as "an integral part of [U.S.] energy goals."
"Electrification of the Postal Service delivery vehicle fleet is practical, achievable and desirable, and should be initiated now," the report concluded.
"Car manufacturers today are applying substantial resources to developing electric drive vehicles, a task made difficult because of the driving distance range they believe consumers require and want. This particular difficulty does not apply to postal delivery."
The idea of going electric is hardly revolutionary. As reported in a previous story, industry and government are already assuming the electric car will be viable and in wide use within the next decade or, at most, two.
A century ago, in a time when 38 per cent of U.S. vehicles were battery-powered, that country's Postal Service used electric trucks to deliver mail, the report notes.
But gas powered vehicles eventually took over, spurred on by numerous factors, including the wide availability of the fuel, the relative costliness of electricity at the time and, not the least significant, the introduction of Ford's Model T and its mass production capabilities.
Still, the now-defunct American Railway Express operated a fleet of electric delivery trucks into well into the 1950s and 1960s, according to the commission report.
Electric trucks far more efficient: federal study
Canada Post has already studied the issue and concluded going electric was viable -- ten years ago.
A 1999 study by Environment Canada, Transport Canada and Canada Post pitted a traditional postal delivery truck against one that was converted to electric propulsion. On a simulated 30-km cycle that factored in the inclement weather conditions the average truck might face in Canada, the study found the electric vehicle to be at least three times more energy efficient than the gas powered truck.
It found the electric truck emitted four times less carbon dioxide than the regular truck. And it concluded the electric truck released 99 per cent less pollutants than the traditional gas engine.
The report, however, raised concerns over what it saw as the electric truck's "marginally acceptable" road performance at the time -- an 80 km/h top speed and a 0 to 80 km/h acceleration time of 55 seconds. Still, it reasoned that those problems could be overcome.
"The electric truck is a viable and more environmentally sustainable mail delivery vehicle for Canada Post," the study concluded.
Up against freezing cold, long routes
But ten years later, despite having added 1,000 new vehicles to the fleet, alternative technology makes up only 0.24 per cent of its vehicles, according to Canada Post stats. That includes two fuel-efficient light vehicles and some 30 hybrid cars or SUVs.
It's a drop in the bucket compared to the fleet's 1,720 light vans, 2,170 right-hand drive vans and 2,680 step vans, which, with an average fuel consumption rate last year of 33 litres for every 100 km, pegs it a few notches below a Hummer on a list of fuel friendliness.
Canada Post's national fleet manager, Ron Thibert, says its initial electric vehicle trials were promising, but not enough to adopt the technology.
"What that particular project enlightened us on was the immaturity of the batteries and the control components at the time," Thibert says.
While EVs may be suited to the typical 30-km circuit, Thibert says testing found the electric trucks struggled with routes that, for example, could start with an initial 8-km highway leg.
"It demands a lot of energy out of that battery pack," he says. "It just left us hanging at the end of the route. Now put that in context with a winter day at -25C. That challenge gets really difficult."
But, as Thibert acknowledges, the initial trial was a decade ago.
"There's a lot of promise right now. With the [automobile] marketplace in the turmoil that it's in, it has generated a lot of interest," he says.
'Pivotal' next years
For now, Canada Post's public plans for greening its fleet are general.
The Crown corporation plans to move towards vehicles with smaller engines to replace its larger step vans. It sets a timeline of 2010 to 2015 to accomplish its goal, but there's no set target.
"You're probably going to see a step-stone approach," Thibert says. "In the very near term, the vehicles are going to be much smaller, much more fuel efficient that way."
The adoption of alternative technology like EVs will depend on what the market produces.
"The next two years are going to be very pivotal," he says.
Others are moving faster.
In 2003, Canada Post's subsidiary, Purolator, signed an agreement with Azure Dynamics to potentially order up to 2,000 made-in-Canada hybrid electric vehicles, a figure that accounted for more than half the courier's urban fleet at the time. So far, Purolator has bought about 150 of the vehicles and put them to work doing curbside delivery (Thibert says the Purolator vehicles are heavier than what Canada Post needs).
No doubt, one key difference may be Purolator's comparatively rosy financial situation. "The post office is in a financially precarious position," according to the strategic review of the Crown corp. released earlier this year. "Canada Post Corporation's existing level of profits is derived primarily from its Purolator subsidiary. The Canada Post segment itself is barely breaking even."
'Government has to lead the way': Elwood
Cost, too, is an obvious barrier within the private sector.
Water delivery company Canadian Springs recently bought the first hybrid electric in its delivery fleet of 275 nationwide, at a $50,000 premium over a traditional Class 7 beverage body truck.
"They're very expensive," says Mengo McCall, Canadian Springs's director of business development. Some of the funds to buy the truck came from the province's Green Fleets B.C. program.
But McCall is waiting for the market to produce equivalent plug-in battery trucks in the right size.
"As soon as the electric trucks are available for our type of business, we would gladly get them," he said. "I see the next step as plug-in hybrids and after that, all-electric trucks. We're waiting for the technology to come around."
For evTRM chair Mike Elwood, the future of electric vehicles in Canadian fleets comes full circle to the government.
Whether it's subsidizing private companies like Canadian Springs through one-off grants, or laying down the cash to roll out green public sector fleets, the initial spark has to come from somewhere.
"Government has to lead the way here," Elwood says. "One way or the other, they're going to have to do it. It's either they're going to have to put our large subsidies to the general public for private companies to acquire these vehicles, or they become purchasers and buy volume. But by going in that direction, they send out a loud message."
- Electric Cars Need a Jump Start
They're where cell phones were in 1985, says one backer. Must we wait that long? - In Canada, a Push for Obama-style Green Stimulus
PM to get plan backed by 850,000 group members. - Derailed: How BC's Chance for High-Speed Rail Jumped the Tracks (series)
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Wilfred Laurier
14-06-2009
Trucks
A truck is ideal for a hybrid powertrain because most of the torque that is required can be supplied immediately via an electric motor. No need for a huge diesel engine or complicated gear box. All you would need is an electric motor and a small, efficient constant speed motor to charge the batteries. It would be enormously more efficient.
As for postal vans, for most routes, a plug in electric would be more than adequate even using NiMh batteries, even in our winters.
RickW
14-06-2009
You are asking the Harper government to innovate??
Never happen, even though, through the bailout, the government owns a fair chunk of the automobile business in this country.
Chris H
14-06-2009
When they build them ...
"As soon as the electric trucks are available for our type of business, we would gladly get them," he said. "I see the next step as plug-in hybrids and after that, all-electric trucks. We're waiting for the technology to come around."
Aren't we all? As soon as they build them, we will start buying them.
Peter Dimitrov
14-06-2009
Just one iggly question
where will the electricity come from for projected EV demand: 5 million vehicles in Canada within 10 years, and 50 million electric vehicles in the same period.
have we really thought this one through, I do not think so!
OilbertaRedTory
14-06-2009
Lean Green Delivery Machines
They're built. They're bought.
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/blog/eyeonasia/archives/2008/06/japan_posts_ele.html
... and
http://news.van.fedex.com/2MMiles
.
Don't snooze - you'll lose.
RickW
15-06-2009
Chris H
Provided they aren't in the $40G (and up) range, the way GM wants to do with the Volt........
RickW
15-06-2009
Peter D
At least, with EVs we have a chance to produce our own energy, whereas it is nearly impossible with I/C engines.
And Gordon Campbell should embrace EVs as it will give him a good excuse for his beloved IPPs.........
Jeffrey J.
15-06-2009
I'm so glad to see continued
I'm so glad to see continued coverage on this CRITICAL issue for the environment. Even though North America's mainstream press pretends global warming doesn't exist, it does, its growing and we will all soon see the results.
Electric vehicles are a HUGE step forward towards clean energy. Anything is better than burning and drilling for more oil. Full stop.
Canada's electric car, the Zenn, is in full production, but unavailable in most cities due to stonewalling by Harper and provincial governments all caving in to the oil lobby.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M88k6Ipp3c
It's a very simple story, and told very well in Who Killed the Electric Car.
http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com/
BTW, this excellent film can also be watched on YouTube.
The argument that society must create electricity for electric cars to operate is virtually meaningless. Of course we need to make electricity! But for consumers, electricity is clean and pollution free, and is also compatible with solar and wind power. Indeed, if we need to burn oil to create electricity, as we presently do in many parts of the world, why are the oil companies opposed to electric cars? Because the amount of oil used would DRAMATICALLY drop. Simple
Great coverage.
Peter Dimitrov
15-06-2009
other options to batteries
there are divergent pathways of how to power electric vehicles.
They are:
Lithium compounded with cobalt and other metal batteries....these are highly toxic
Nickel-Cadium batteries..even worse
Lead...no good but cheap due to the abundance and low price of lead.
Then, the following is being tested at various science centres in North Korea and Europe, some facsimile of a non-battery vehicle using 'inductive electric power' where the interaction of the roadway and the vehicle creates electricity.
Check this patent out, do some googling of electrified roadways/highways, and at least be open to options not yet considered. Perhaps, lithium batteries will be a transition power source at best.
Here is the url:
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5669470/claims.html
btrain
15-06-2009
Canada Post's potential "new
Canada Post's potential "new delivery model" rather cleverly sidesteps the question of updating its truck fleet, by not delivering the mail at all:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090502/0905002_cancel_mail_delivery/20090502/?hub=CP24Home
seth
15-06-2009
electricity is needed
Only 30% of BC's energy use is electric/green the rest is fossil fuels for transportation and heat. BC produces about 55000 gwh's of electric power maybe 180000 gwh's of total energy equivalent. To convert from fossil fuels we need a lot more electricity. Both Energy Alberta and Sask Power have concluded and I concur - nuclear power is the ONLY answer.
Home and office insulation/windows/lighting and solar water/home heating combined could have a major impact. Three day work weeks, mandatory telecommuting, public transit, switching from truck to rail/water freight would reduce fossil fuel consumption enormously.
Unfortunately none of these things can happen under our fascist government ruled and owned by big business and maintained in power by campaign donations, a silly irresponsible electorate kept complaint by a wholly owned mainstream media, and a malevolent Green party hell bent on destroying the environment..
We tried the political route and its seems unlikely to work without a future BC's own Obama appearing to stir the sleeping masses and unite progressives in a battle against the dark forces now in power.
So we are going to need electricity and lots of it. Geothermal heat and electric cars/synfuels require electricity - lots of it.
We can't compete with solar electric installations in the US southwest desert. Wind power with its erratic power flows, enormous land area, concrete and steel requirements has been shown to be almost useless.
Geothermal and tidal power are unproven and costly alternatives at this point. We need to do something and soon.
So far we've committed to buying $35 billion dollars minimum and as much as $60 billion paying extremely high prices for low value mostly early summer pirate power which might add 15 to 20% - 7000 to 12000 gwh's to our annual supply. Site C might add another 5000 Gwh's for $5 billion to the mix but likely only after the current fascist government privatizes BCHydro within the next year or so.
What then?
Westinghouse is beginning construction for a 2013 service date of four one gigawatt nuclear plants it sold to China for $5.5 billion. BCHydro could try for the same deal with Westinghouse or if Harpo could get his act together with AECL and build 4 similar reactors on the Burrard thermal site. These nukes would generate almost 40000 gwh's of prime baseload power, almost doubling BCHydro's capacity and using up no new land. Compare that to the approx. 8,000 hectares of crown land Site C would take or the 45,000 for the Bute Inlet Pirate Power project. The cost would be a less than one tenth the funds committed to Pirate Power's low value early summer power, and would produce almost five times as much high value baseload power.
Hyperion can't keep up with the orders for the 70 megawatt refrigerator size nukes it is selling for $25 million.
Only our own stupidity stands in the way. Given how we vote that is a huge obstacle indeed.
DPL
15-06-2009
Gosh I figure all those
Gosh I figure all those postal vehicles I was driving 15 years ago were burning propane, and some were natural gas. Silly me. Yur colum writing sure knows more about the fleet than those who used it. A bunch of other ones were diesel. We could go the way of the Brits and have the letter carries ride his bike. Heck the brits were running electricmilk trucks in towsn when I first went there in the mnid sixties.
I'm no fan of Canada Post management but I do recall their rules of not idling over a very short period, under a minute, of time seemed to work. and of course when exiting the vehicle, it sure better not be running.
Wilfred Laurier
15-06-2009
Interesting
So, Seth, what do you think the reaction from the enviros, not to say the NDP, should BC Hydro propose a nuclear plant on Burrard Inlet? Not to mention the NIMBYs. I agree with you that nuclear power is a very attractive option. Zero CO2 and minimal cost in transmission lines.
longbiker
15-06-2009
Other solutions
1. Super mailboxes instead of home delivery. If the average route is 32 kms to go to every house, then it would probably be only 8kms to go to a series of super mailboxes, or as we used to call them, rural route boxes.
2. There are some communities where an even more efficient delivery vehicle is practical - the transport bike. If the goal is to save energy, either diesel or electrical, then bikes are the way to go. Sure you can kvetch about our climate, and hills and the rest, but 90% of the population would by bike accessible 75% of the year.
The transport style bike can easily carry a full routes worth of mail, including small packages.
Holland, Denmark, and several other forward (or backward) thinking places have integrated bikes into their delivery fleet.
It won't work in every community, but I bet you could put 500 routes in Canada on bike delivery.
mcgregory
15-06-2009
Electric Cars
As long as these aren't plug in. BC Hydro has already told us we have to use less hydro during the 2010 games, so they don't have to run as many diesel generators during the games. The move to electric cars and trucks is great but the infrastructure is not there to support it. In BC we have been privatizing our Hydro companies in order to meet the right wing agenda of our Liberal government and their corporate friends. Once again the taxpayers are on the hook.
carfreed
15-06-2009
exhausted
the noise and pollution from fossil fuelled vehicles should have been dealt with decades ago by Health Canada and Environment Canada.
Just call up your reps and tell them, we need changes NOW.
And, in the meantime, stop making life miserable for us pedestrians with all your driving.
alive
15-06-2009
many options
No reason why postal carrier have to drive such big trucks, on many of their routes, there are alternatives such as bikes.
Suppose that bikes are only good 75% of the year, then perhaps one of the new really small electric cars would do?
Remove the rear seats and these hatchbacks can carry quite a bit.
The newest example is here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/auto/mitsubishi-takes-the-lead-with-all-electric-car/article1176720/
KD Brown
15-06-2009
Electricity is needed
There is no question that electric cars are more efficient than gas.
So then now we are to hit the panic button and demand that ALL of our current energy needs, formerly met by cheap and available oil, are now to be met with nuclear.
Make no mistake: nuclear is only economically viable if all the costs of getting rid of the waste and decommissioning old plants is externalized, so that the companies involved in the construction and operation of the plants are not responsible for these costs. The taxpayer is. If nuclear had to sit on its own, no one would invest in it, it is not economic. Doesn't mean that people won't make money building or operating them - their profit comes out of the taxpayer's pockets.
We are up against the wall on this one, I think is also true. But looking around our communities, I see so much opportunity for conservation, for adoption of what renewable sources that we can, and for creative application of the enormous energy, talent, creativity, skill and education of our people, that I am impatient with efforts to talk us into yet more STUFF that we don't need.
Case in point: the majority of vehicles in North America sit all day, outside. Yet the roofs of the vehicles and delivery vans are never mentioned as square area that could be turned into solar collectors.
Case in point: lightweight composite materials are the naturals for getting more for the mile in vehicles. Let's have the Big Four, er, Little Three, supply our communities with lightweight components so that we can develop our own vehicles, incredibly lightweight, able to take advantage of the sun and wind, and then we can talk savings, distribution of the manufacturing, localizing to the skill set and resources available. Let's then talk innovation, true innovation.
Or we can simply trade pipelines full of toxic stuff that we have to pay someone for, so we can pollute our environment and possibly make life as we know it end, for truck loads of toxic stuff, called nuclear fuel, that we have to pay someone for so that we can pollute our environment and possibly make life as we know it end.
Please include all the solutions in the debate!
Cheers.
Fish-counter
15-06-2009
This could just work, in Vancouver anyway.
Battery-powered vehicles all suffer the same problem. The voltage produced by any battery is a function of the temperature. That is physical chemistry and you can't get away from it, even if you do vote Green. On the BC coast it isn't a problem, but on the prairies, battery powered vehicles will only work in summer.
What this means is that BC should LEAD THE WAY in electric vehicles, because it could give us a COMPETITIVE EDGE in transportation. It is just an idea, but the Lower Mainland Airshed needs a break.
By the way, if anyone wants to know where all the hydro-electricity could come from, go to Ocean Falls. The hydro dam there was operating at less than 25% of capacity last time I worked there. The transmission costs were too high to move the juice further than Bella Coola and Shearwater. The dam itself was built big enough to power the pulp mill. The dam and turbines are still there, waiting for an application.
OilbertaRedTory
15-06-2009
The Nuclear Zombies ...
... want to eat your brain.
Protect yourself with a short sharp shot of full cost accounting :
http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/EE/article.asp?doi=b809990c
The half-life decay of the nuclearistas just isn't short enough ;
http://www.nature.com/climate/2008/0810/full/climate.2008.99.html