The Postal Service has announced its intention to replace its entire neighborhood delivery fleet of 195,000 vehicles with ones powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
At a ceremony during which General Motors presented a Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell electric vehicle to the USPS for testing, Walter O’Tormey, the Postal Service’s vice president for engineering stated, "We are looking for a vehicle that operates from a fuel source that reduces, or eliminates, our dependence on petroleum products, that is good for the environment, good for our customers and good for the Postal Service."
The USPS is losing money. It said recently that for the third fiscal quarter, April 1 — June 30, it posted a net loss $1.1 billion that it attributed to economic stagnation and higher transportation costs due to high fuel prices.
It’s feeling those same fuel costs and wants to move forward with non-petroleum fueled vehicles. O’Tormey noted that a one-cent increase in a gallon of fuel adds $8 million annually to the Postal Service’s expenses. Last year fuel costs were $1.7 billion and this year is expected to be worse.
Already, the USPS said it has a number of alternate fuel vehicles — with over 43,000 able to operate on hybrid-electric, electric, compressed natural gas, liquid propane gas, ethanol, biodiesel and hydrogen fuel cells.
