Whole Travel Blog

Who owns one of the world’s largest vehicle fleets? Here’s a hint: it’s not Google or even Nascar. It’s the United States Postal Service, purveyors of your daily mail and walkers (er…drivers) of mail routes nationwide. With a fleet of aging, fuel-inefficient automobiles, the USPS recently announced a huge undertaking: replacing 6,500 vehicles with more efficient vehicles, including 900 hybrids and 1,000 alternative fuel vehicles.

Reducing the carbon footprint of your snail mail

The USPS currently has well over 200,000 vehicles in its fleet, so this is only a small percentage of the overall picture, but it is hopefully a proof of concept for the government agency that going green is the way to be.

The San Francisco-based design firm Mike and Maaike, which designed Google’s G1 phone, has come up with the Autonomobile, a concept for a self-driving, low-speed electric car of the future. They acknowledge that this car will probably never be built - especially considering the years of skepticism and months of anticipation before the G1 was launched - but they hope to at least provide some inspiration for the future of ground transportation.

Who needs a steering wheel? Give me a couch!

The design by Mike and Maaike takes the opposite approach to Tesla Motors, which is working to spur interest in electric vehicles by making them sporty and fun to drive. So instead of all the bells and whistles of a sports car, the Autonomobile’s design is all about quality time while in transit. A lounge area with no steering wheel, accelerator or rear-view mirror allows comfortable seating for 7, whether working on computers, watching television or just relaxing and conversing. Technology has a long way to go before it can provide this type of experience, but hopefully this provides inspiration for the designers of our future transports.

Back in November 2008, FedEx Express announced a plan to purchase vehicles that combine Azure Dynamics’s hybrid system with a Ford gasoline engine and chassis. Last Thursday, the Hybrid Truck User Forum sponsored an event in Washington, DC, fittingly called: “Hybrid on the Hill Day.” This event featured 17 medium- and heavy-duty commercial hybrid trucks with participants including FedEx Express, Mack, Peterbilt, Freightliner and Kenworth.

FedEx Express already uses hybrids in city fleets.

The event on Capitol Hill took place next to the Capitol Reflecting Pool with speakers addressing the benefits of hybrids for the commercial trucking industry and how to roll-out hybrid fleets in a rough economy. Duke University also released a report on the hybrid truck sector and how it could impact the industry going forward.

On Tuesday, in Berlin, Germany, Daimler and Neste Oil announced the results of a year-long study in which 14 Mercedes trucks and buses ran entirely on sustainable biodiesel. The biofuel, made from palm oil, is a step along the path of Neste’s mission to creat 100% sustainably produced oil by 2015. The results of this study: a 60% decrease in CO2 emissions.

These young oil palms will grow up to be biodiesel.

The project has been extended for 3 more years, with more results to be reported in 2011.

Recharging electric cars has always been a bit of a pain to get done, but in the Bay Area, it is about to get a lot easier.  The mayors of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland have plans to spend up to $1 billion to put up a service network to make charging your electric rig a lot more convenient.

Better Place, a Palo Alto company backed by private investors, will be building the system.  According to SFGate.com, “The firm proposes installing thousands of parking-meter-size plugs in homes, lots, garages, and shopping centers for an electric fill-up.  Also planned are battery swapping spots, where a depleted power package can be switched for a fresh one withing minutes.”

The article is not clear as to whether the electricity used at the recharging stations will come from renewable sources.  To read the full article, click here.