UPS will work with partner Workhorse, a battery-electric transportation technology company, to develop and deploy a fleet of 50 custom-built plug-in electric delivery trucks with zero emissions.
The goal is to make trucks that cost as much to buy as do traditional fuel-based delivery vehicles — even without taking into account subsidies. The Workhorse-designed vehicles will be all-electric, and are designed to run on a single charge throughout a normal delivery day and then charge back up overnight.
Workhorse says they'll have a 100-mile range, which is a good fit for in-city routes, and the trucks will first enter testing in urban areas in various parts of the U.S., including Atlanta, Dallas and LA. The test will lead to fine-tuning, which will lead to a larger fleet deployment targeting 2019.
Source: TechCrunch
Also at The Verge, Reuters and Cincinnati.com
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @07:47PM (2 children)
Companies that use them leave me equally unimpressed.
These services will just leave stuff by your front door.
...or they will leave a note on your door that says you have to go to their depot to pick up your stuff.
Just send it to me parcel post.
My mailbox is big enough to hold most things.
...and it's a federal crime for anyone except me or the postal carrier to mess with my mailbox.
...and, BTW, if you live off the beaten path, the commercial corps will hand off the final mile to USPS anyway.
...not to mention the crappy way that commercial operations treat their personnel.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Goghit on Monday February 26 2018, @03:56AM (1 child)
Just wait until you have to ship cross border. Friends don't ship to Canadian friends using United Parcel Smashers. In the early 2000s they found they couldn't compete on price and customer service up here so they sued Canada under NAFTA for daring to have a national postal service. The tribunal eventually ruled against them but still, WTF?
Oddly enough, the US is willing to drop the Investor-State trade dispute mechanism from NAFTA, but our corporate bum-fuck Canadian politicians, despite us being the most sued country under these clauses, is arguing to keep them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @07:54AM
Don't have any of those.
Can't think of any Canuck business with whom I have ever done business either.
Yeah, if your stuff is crossing borders, USA's Postal System shouldn't be your first choice.
That seems painfully obvious.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]