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On Thursday, Daimler announced that it would bring its line of short-haul electric trucks to the US. The United Parcel Service (UPS) will buy the first three trucks, and Daimler is also offering eight trucks to New York City-based non-profits, including the Wildlife Conservation Society, the New York Botanical Garden, Habitat for Humanity New York City, and Big Reuse Brooklyn.
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The Fuso eCanter trucks will have a range of 62 miles (or about 100km) and will be sold in Japan and Europe as well. Daimler said it's only planning on producing 500 trucks in the next year, but it intends to start mass-producing the trucks in 2019. It's unclear how much these trucks cost.The trucks have a load capacity of three and a half tons, Daimler said, with a powertrain that draws on "six high-voltage lithium-ion battery packs with 420 V and 13.8 kWh each."
New York City and the Bronx in particular have asthma rates several times the national average. Many blame the high levels of trucking in the city. Shifting delivery fleets to EVs could help.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday September 16 2017, @06:10PM (4 children)
Paxters have no more range than this vehicle - 100km with the largest size battery available.
Explain how you intend to get 3.5 tons of payload in a Paxster? Did you even click the link to see the size of the truck Daimler is proposing and compare it to the golf cart you suggest?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Sunday September 17 2017, @04:55PM (3 children)
Daimler have a 3.5 ton truck, so that's what they've proposed. Want to deliver mail? 3.5 ton truck. Takeaway food? 3.5 ton truck. A pizza? 3.5 ton truck. Two postcards and a letter? 3.5 ton truck. A telegram? 3.5 ton truck.
Paxster's and similar were designed for actual mail runs. They looked at the problem and created the solution that best deals with it. Daimler's approach was to build a 3.5 ton hammer and then look for nails they could smash with it. That's why I described it as a marketing exercise for Daimler, not a solution for mail carriers.
(Score: 2) by AndyTheAbsurd on Sunday September 17 2017, @05:21PM (1 child)
You're confusing UPS (United Parcel Service) with USPS (United States Postal Service). These trucks are going to UPS, which mostly delivers things that come in boxes, and needs vehicles with more space than Paxters have available. You don't use UPS for letter delivery unless you need the letter delivered overnight.
If you want to look at USPS, which actually does most of the letter delivery in the US, then you'd be correct that Paxters would be a better solution.
Please note my username before responding. You may have been trolled.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Sunday September 17 2017, @05:29PM
Paxsters are used here to deliver parcels, in fact that's why they were introduced, because sending a truck out for things larger than large letters that a standard mail carrier would handle was uneconomical. However our mail delivery infrastructure is probably a bit different to the US, relatively short runs covered by a fairly dense delivery network, so you rarely need to resort to a large truck.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @05:50PM
But UPS isn't a mail carrier -- they're a parcel carrier. They actually use vans with 3.5 tons or more capacity.
Sure, when your only tool is a hammer, all your problems look like nails. But that doesn't mean a few of your problems aren't actually nails.