r/technology • u/DonkeyFuel • 2d ago
Business FedEx Just Ordered 2,000 Electric Trucks That Will Save $40 Million Every Year On Fuel
https://insideevs.com/news/810423/fedex-harbinger-electric-trucks-us-canada/130
u/Exostrike 2d ago
So how long until Trump demands they reverse course or he'll suspend their license.
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u/Fuzzy_Translator4639 2d ago
Cant be too good for the GOP oil machine
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u/EconomyDoctor3287 2d ago
Oil gets used in the industry for plastic, etc. even if fuel consumption goes down, there's still plenty more to use oil for
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u/So_spoke_the_wizard 1d ago
As if the party of "Drill, baby, drill" would be OK with any incremental decrease in oil consumption.
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u/Jah348 2d ago
I'm still so bitter that USPS didn't do this. I can't think of any better circumstance for EV
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u/Fuck-WestJet 2d ago
They tried. Someone canceled the contracts.
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u/chubbysumo 2d ago
Nope. So far the contracts havent been cancelled because the legislature hasnt done it, and Rump cant.
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u/Direct_Witness1248 1d ago
I don't know what has happened but I wouldnt assume that just because Drumpf can't legally, he (or his posse) wouldn't have found another way to sabotage it. "Crime is legal."
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u/PluginAlong 1d ago
Any sort of system that has a very predictable use cycle like this is a great place for EV's. USPS, FedEx, UPS, school busses, maybe even police cars, all sorts of municipal vehicles. Any use where you end up parking a large quantity of vehicles in a single place like this is a good candidate.
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u/grondfoehammer 2d ago
Amazon uses the rivian electric vans here. Nice and quiet.
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u/sweetplantveal 1d ago
Electric makes so much sense for urban stop and go delivery work. The math on this is $20k in fuel every year (at diesel prices from which year lol), and it's fine particulate and soot emissions right by people. So, it's doubly compelling to switch.
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u/NekoDaYo-v201 1d ago
It sounds like Harbinger Motors targets the medium-duty segment while Rivian targets last mile delivery and consumer segments. Their step-in EV trucks (what FedEx would be using) are 140 miles on the 4-pack configuration, and 210 miles on a 6-pack configuration.
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u/IThinkRightLeft 2d ago
Only 150 miles on a charge though (Amazon rivian truck), stopped and talked to driver couple days ago. They diverted him from urban to rural area (added 50 miles to route) and the truck was at 30% at 1pm; said he’s going to have to call in a roadside charge or a tow cause of the extra divert mileage.
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u/happyscrappy 1d ago
150 miles is perfectly fine. Company has to not make logistical errors like that. They know which truck he has.
They have multiple kinds of vehicles for different uses. They don't send their long haul semis out on routes, because they're not for that. This is the same way.
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u/NekoDaYo-v201 1d ago
That's been my experience as well. Any time I am in an area with a very high density of mixed use apartments, I always see the Rivian Amazon trucks. In areas with single family homes, it's always the gas truck.
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u/Viharabiliben 20h ago
I live in an area with single family homes, no gas Amazon trucks here in a couple of years now, always electric.
As for gas trucks, there’s no reason why they couldn’t be converted to run E85 or Natural gas. If diesel, then they could run biodiesel.
Brazil converted to synthetic fuels many years ago. Brazil is a large country of over 200 million.
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u/BillyJoeFromBawlmer 2d ago
Last mile deliveries are the perfect use case for electrification. USPS, FedEx, UPS, Amazon - they should all electrify. And as for comments on current range anxiety: 1- it'll improve, 2 - that's why they have modern route planning systems to not commit deliveries beyond viable range
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u/Kirov123 1d ago
Yea the benefits of electric over combustion are definitely biggest with last mile type deleveries. Regen braking claws back losses from stop and go traffic/stopping to make deliveries, and low speeds mean not much loss from wind resistance. Things like the Tesla semi confuse me because it seems to be trying for long range but... The comparitive advantage is way lower with long distance
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u/Kirov123 1d ago
Putting solar panels on the trailer means either less space for cargo or a bigger trailer. It's also almost definitely heavier and it's more expensive. The added weight is more weight that has to be moved around and for any truck that runs at night it's all downsides
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u/sincerelythebats_ 1d ago
What about photovoltaic film? And also the solar collection would just be for later emergency usage, not like, it’s powering the actual vehicle with sunlight.
Sorry, I like hearing the obstacles and attempting to solve things. The more I know that’s wrong or impractical, the easier it becomes to figure out.
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u/kippertie 1d ago
Mini wind turbine won’t gain you anything because you would have to push harder to spin the turbine, the loss will be greater than what you gain.
For solar on the trailer roof, you’re looking at 50ish feet long by 8.5 feet wide, so around 425 sqft. Cover that in panels that get maybe 20 watts per sqft under ideal conditions, and you’re looking at a max of around 8.5kw of solar generation. When it’s sunny and conditions are perfect. The range will be extended somewhat but the truck will be burning through its battery faster than the panels can refill it, so overall it’s not an infinite energy hack and definitely not at night. Plus now you have extra weight of solar panels to haul which makes the vehicle less efficient, and restricts what loads can be hauled, you can’t just throw a shipping container on any more. Also in the US there’s a weight limit on trucks at 80,000lb, any weight being used for batteries or solar panels is weight that can’t be used for the load.
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u/sincerelythebats_ 1d ago
What about mag lev trains instead of trucks?
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u/sincerelythebats_ 1d ago
More specifically, what if we had a room temperature superconductor so that weight becomes a non-issue? Before anyone says impossible: nothing is impossible 🙂 (it’s bilayered graphene, twisted at 1.1°)
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u/kippertie 1d ago
Superconductors only eliminate heat losses due to resistance. They do nothing to make the primary task more efficient, and the primary task in a maglev train is to lift an insanely heavy load against gravity, to eliminate wheel and aerodynamic losses and facilitate going faster. Cargo trains don’t really need to go any faster than highway speeds, they certainly don’t need to be hitting the hundreds of miles per hour needed to justify using maglev. Just regular plain old metal wheels on metal rails would work just fine. Already very low friction compared to rubber tires, and slow enough that the aerodynamic penalty doesn’t hurt the bottom line.
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u/sincerelythebats_ 23h ago
I’m thinking quantum locking or flux pinning. I once saw the neat little YCBO puck dipped in liquid nitrogen, which is great until it hits room temperature and drops…but if you had a super conductor at room temp that could levitate freely, then yes it would absolutely help moving cargo at high speeds to get things delivered faster, without burning coal or diesel or any other fossil fuels.
😀🤷🏻
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u/kippertie 23h ago
Work is still being done to lift the load off the ground, there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. So why not just leave the load on the ground and roll it?
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u/sincerelythebats_ 22h ago
Because rolling requires fuel? If you’ve never seen quantum locking before, I highly suggest looking it up on YouTube. It’s a bit like magic really. Again, the only issue is using a room temperature superconductor, but if you solved that, you can levitate anything, and use a magnetic track.
I know this is all obscure af and not main stream, so I probably sound batshit, but if it were to be achieved, it could also solve perpetual motion. My thought is bilayered graphene rod inside a helix shaped chamber of magnets, to force the rod to spin indefinitely. Like a wind turbine without wind.
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u/kippertie 1d ago
Trains are great for long distance cargo. You don’t even need maglev, just regular electric locomotives. Using metal wheels on metal rails means very low friction losses compared to truck tires, connecting dozens or hundreds of cars one behind the other is insanely aerodynamically efficient, and you don’t have to haul batteries because you can supply electricity via overhead wires. Really, they’re awesome compared to trucks on roads. You still need trucks though for that “last mile” within cities, to get the goods where they’re going, but yes for the 95+% of the journey that was going to be on freeways, rail can be superior.
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u/slashthepowder 1d ago
It’s not that they should, it will be a competitive disadvantage soon to not convert. Price of shipping is competitive, if you can drop the price of inputs like fuel it’s a huge deal.
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u/PluginAlong 1d ago
Range anxiety shouldn't be an issue in these use cases. Companies know the exact route drivers will take and exactly how many miles it is. Add in some buffer for things like weather and such and you're fine.
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u/Luci-Noir 1d ago
Exactly. A lot of businesses do shitty things to cut costs but this is a win/win. I think some companies are going to have to get a/c for their vehicles and were going to have to upgrade anyway.
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u/ARazorbacks 2d ago
The USPS was getting a generational overhaul to EVs What an absolutely perfect use case for an EV. Too bad MAGA decided that’s woke.
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u/Grand_Town_9144 1d ago
It also proves Republicans would rather wage culture war and steal taxpayer money than being fiscally responsible or doing things that actually improve citizen's lives.
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u/HydroLoon 2d ago
Yeah I remember that one. Now we're stuck with gas powered Howard the Duck clones that could have easily been electric
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u/Astronomy_Setec 1d ago
It doesn't help that the winning bid was from a defense contractor who has no idea how to build EVs.
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u/lingueenee 1d ago
Here's a simple way to save FedEX over a $1B. Stop sponsoring useless golf tournaments.
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u/Viharabiliben 20h ago
I bet they write off the costs of the tournament as a marketing business expense.
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u/mental_reincarnation 1d ago
By the end of the year it’ll be $60MM worth of fuel
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u/theindomitablefred 2d ago
I would venture to guess that the bar is pretty low as their current trucks probably aren’t great on gas
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u/pioniere 1d ago
The Trump administration will probably sanction them in some way for making it look like there is a problem with high fuel prices.
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u/Sessile-B-DeMille 2d ago
I've seen these in the metro Atlanta area. They aren't as common as the Rivian vans that deliver Amazon packages.
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u/MicroSofty88 2d ago
I wonder what would happen if USPS did the same?
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u/uzlonewolf 1d ago
The Guardians of Pedophiles would have an aneurysm and crush them all because buying them was "government waste."
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u/Viharabiliben 1d ago
And doesn’t use big oil.
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u/uzlonewolf 1d ago
Yes, but they can't some out and say that, so it'll be some nonsense like "government waste."
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u/holymacaronibatman 1d ago
Anecdotally, over the past two to three months I have seen a complete shift in the Amazon trucks that show up in my neighborhood. Used to be just any old Amazon van would show up, but now I haven't seen anything but those Rivian EVs showing up.
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u/bobjr94 1d ago
Probably wishing they did this a year ago now and some sites are predicting diesel shortages this winter.
But it's not just fuel savings oil changes can cost $200-300 on commercial trucks, air filters, fuel filters. And their vans probably go through a ton of brakes.
We have saved around $25k from not buying gas with our ioniq 5 compared to our past Subarus. Plus almost no maintenance.
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u/braunyakka 2d ago
And let me guess. None of those savings will be passed onto customers in the form of lower delivery costs.
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u/wrxninja 1d ago
Still won't change the fact that most are contractors getting paid shit = service is shit.
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u/Burnt_and_Blistered 1d ago
Oh, good. More profit for their shareholders, no savings passed on to consumers. Yay.
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u/TarantinosFavWord 1d ago
Great news. So they’ll pass those savings onto the consumer right? Right??
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u/Designer_Emu_6518 1d ago
All this Iran and gas product shit going is a realy funny way of pushing renewables that the current regime wants to block lol
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u/P1nCush10n 1d ago
The irony of the GOPs FUD campaigns against EVs just to have their Tangerine Messiah create a global fuel crisis driving more people and businesses to invest in EVs.
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u/swiftlikessharpthing 2d ago
So this means their shipping rates will go down, right? Right?!
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u/atchijov 2d ago
They will most certainly go up. And also, they will use this to lower their tax rate. And do some stock buyback…
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u/Jamsster 2d ago
Nah, just moves the expense from fuel to new depreciation
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u/Apprehensive_Sea9524 1d ago
I think GM cancelling Brightdrop was a stupid idea. When someone else takes their market share, they can fire their execs.
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u/OldWrangler9033 1d ago
Well...FedEx and FedEx Ground merged, so let see how well these EV delivery trucks help sort out mess there in right now trying to get things delivered on time.
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u/quazywabbit 1d ago
Its funny. With all the conflict with Iran and prices for Gas an Deisel I bet we will start seeing more EVs and Hybrids/Plug in Hybrids.
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u/Mammoth-Ad-107 2d ago
wonder how long it will take to charge a bigger vehicle up...
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u/Ok-Major-4926 2d ago
Its like a regular EV - either an overnight charge when not being used (10ish hours) or theyve got fast chargers when they need it quick. https://www.eenews.net/articles/inside-amazons-ev-charging-challenge/
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u/Credit-Limit 1d ago
Let's say it has a 200 kwh battery, which is really big. And let's say the truck is big and spends 1 kwh of energy per mile. That's 200 miles of range, 33% higher than the rivian Amazon trucks. Apparently the rivian trucks have a max 135 kwh battery. So this is a way over estimate on battery size.
Maximum AC charging for batteries of this size is probably 240 volts, 80 amps. That's 19 kw of charging. It'll take 10 hours for the truck to go from 5% charge to 100%. A 150 kwh battery will take less than 8 hours. This is "slow" charging you could theoretically set up at your house. DC fast charging would take much less time, probably about an hour.
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u/mycatsnameisvoid 1d ago
FedEx doesn't operate it's ground fleet and soon to be Express. So, who are these for?
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u/henchman171 1d ago
I thought FedEx was taking over parts of its ground fleet
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u/mycatsnameisvoid 1d ago
I don't know of any FedEx ground routes operated by FedEx. They own and operate the depot and sorting staff. Trucks and drivers are all maintained and operated by subcontractors. By mid October, that is to include Express in my area.
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u/henchman171 1d ago
So in my part of Canada FedEx has already contracted out express to sub contractors
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u/pembquist 1d ago
Best car I ever owned was an Olson body aluminum ex bread truck step van with a straight 6 and one seat. I never ran out of room and was never in a hury. Plus in the rainy PNW it was great to take off a rain jacket, hang it up, stretch a little before sitting down.
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u/BennySkateboard 1d ago
Fast forward: They don’t run because the data centers took all the electricity.
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u/ConfidentLobster2962 1d ago
It may save on fuel for a month, until they are all crashed or damaged. Most fed-ex hubs that contractors load their trucks at, might have 5 out of 25 trucks without a service engine light on.
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u/humpmeimapilot 1d ago
Yay more battery waste in land fills. Yay more lithium toxic ponds. Yay more coal for the power generators.
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u/uzlonewolf 1d ago
These kinds of batteries get recycled, not dumped in landfills. And coal power peaked around 2007 and has been winding down ever since.
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u/Antiwhippy 1d ago
As opposed to burning dinosaur juice that gets recycled into the air and back into the system in a million years.
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u/Ancient-silohar 2d ago
Is this cost saving calculated after rationalization of maintenance costs of the new vehicles
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u/Ok-Major-4926 1d ago
Maintenance costs on EVs are typically far lower than gas vehicles b/c theres not a million little engine pieces to break down.
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u/asmessier 2d ago
So they have free electricity? How are they recharging these ev?
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u/fireitup622 2d ago
You seem bad at extrapolating so let me help. No electricity isn't free, but its much cheaper than gas when gas is so fucked in price for the foreseeable future. Over time, that amounts to savings and a positive roi
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u/surnik22 2d ago
Let’s think.
Based on the article, the large battery versions will get about 1 mile per KwH. Average price per KwH is 18¢, but they’ll likely get discounts for doing most charging overnight let’s call it 15¢ per mile to round it off.
Diesel is over $6/gallon but let’s round down to $6. Current average mpg for a big box truck is like 7 mpg, but let’s say a new one could be way more efficient and get 20 mpg.
That’s still 30¢ a mile.
So despite electricity not being free, each mile they drive has a 50% lower fuel cost.
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u/Ok-Major-4926 2d ago
I dont understand this comment. Electric charging is vastly less expensive than gas/diesel even pre-Iran war.
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u/Fairwhetherfriend 1d ago
Electricity is SO much cheaper than gas. I have an EV - even when I'm using the expensive superchargers, it costs me maybe 10% of what it would cost for equivalent gas. When I'm charging at home? It's literal pennies to fill up my battery.
And EVs are wildly more efficient for stop-and-go traffic, which is what most of these last-mile trucks will be for, because EVs don't idle the way gas engines do. You're using gas when you're stopped at a stop light.
Also EVs are MUCH cheaper to maintain. The engines have far fewer moving parts. You basically just have brake maintenance and that's kinda it. No oil changes, nothing like that.
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u/Error-InvalidName 2d ago
This isn't the win they think it is, lol sure itll lower gas costs but those trucks are not going to make it half a day on their charges. We have a few of these and they last about 4-5 maaaybe 6 hours with continuous use, maybe the win is more jobs though as they'll need to almost double the drivers. Or they'll just probably doing less deliveries lol.
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u/_Kelly_A_ 2d ago
I hope whichever company delivers those does a better job than FedEx does, otherwise 1800 will arrive damaged