Nanaimosa国际传媒檚 Canada Post depot is the first in the country to have an all-electric corporate delivery fleet.

The Crown corporation held a press conference Thursday, March 9, at the East Wellington Road depot, announcing that the depot will utilize 14 fully electric Ford cargo vans for collection and delivery. Canada Post is calling Nanaimo a sa国际传媒渢est locationsa国际传媒� for the all-electric sa国际传媒渓ast-milesa国际传媒� delivery.

sa国际传媒淭his is an important first step,sa国际传媒� said Doug Ettinger, Canada Post president and CEO. sa国际传媒淚 think the employees here are really excited. Itsa国际传媒檚 only 14 electric vehicles here, but itsa国际传媒檚 14 that wesa国际传媒檙e going to learn from. Wesa国际传媒檙e going to figure out how best to charge them, how much energy they use on the local utility, how they perform. We think theysa国际传媒檙e going to perform even better than the current vehicles.sa国际传媒�

In addition to B.C., electric vehicles will be rolled out in Quebec shortly. Ettinger said provinces with sa国际传媒渃lean electricity gridssa国际传媒� are being targeted initially.

Total costs for vehicles and infrastructure were not available, but the CEO said the vehicles are sa国际传媒渨ell over $100,000sa国际传媒� each.

Sally Dam, Canada Post director of urban delivery strategies, said the cargo vans meet the needs of postal workers.

sa国际传媒淲e actually looked for a vehicle that had enough range for what our delivery agents are actually consuming in a day sa国际传媒� itsa国际传媒檚 got a 68-kilowatt hour battery,sa国际传媒� said Dam.sa国际传媒� Its published range is about 190 kilometres on that 68-kilowatt hour battery, so for our delivery agents, typically a route of no more than 50 kilometres a day. So theresa国际传媒檚 more than sufficient range available on these vehicles.sa国际传媒�

Level 2 charge stations will allow the vehicles to run, according to Dam, with one station having the ability to charge two vehicles at sa国际传媒渕edium speed.sa国际传媒�

sa国际传媒淭hese are typical charging stations that you would find at your home sa国际传媒� the ones that we have here are 19.2 kilowatts, and theysa国际传媒檙e shared among the two ports. But each one can deliver a power output of 9.6. So based on that 9.6 kilowatt power output, we can charge the vehicle from zero to 100 in about eight hours,sa国际传媒� said Dam.

Lessons learned in Nanaimo will benefit Canada Post outlets across the country, according to Ettinger and Dam.

sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檙e going to be using the details to test out some of those different types of scenarios of how wesa国际传媒檙e going to operate our electric fleet,sa国际传媒� Dam said. sa国际传媒淪o determining if we are going to need to charge them on a nightly basis, how much energy are they going to be consuming on a daily basis, a lot of these data points are going to inform us of how wesa国际传媒檙e going to move forward to all of our other sites.sa国际传媒�

Ettinger said workers will be covering the same routes as previously.

sa国际传媒淛ust instead of a gas vehicle, itsa国际传媒檚 an electric vehicle, quieter in the neighbourhood, smooth ride and itsa国际传媒檒l be great for the drivers in particular,sa国际传媒� said Ettinger.

He said Canada Post has plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, with a commitment to electrifying half its national fleet of approximately 14,000 vehicles by 2030 and the entire fleet by 2040.

Sheryl Armstrong, City of Nanaimo councillor, is in favour of electrifying vehicles, but said ethical issues arise when it comes to how some of the materials were procured, particularly from Congo or Chile.

sa国际传媒淚 think itsa国际传媒檚 a very good move sa国际传媒� Isa国际传媒檓 hoping that as we move forward to electrification in Canada that wesa国际传媒檙e ensuring that our minerals are coming from places where theysa国际传媒檙e being environmentally and ethically sourced,sa国际传媒� said Armstrong.

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sa国际传媒� Karl Yu (@KarlYuBulletin)

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