Nanaimo鈥檚 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 鈥渢est location鈥� for the all-electric 鈥渓ast-mile鈥� delivery.
鈥淭his is an important first step,鈥� said Doug Ettinger, Canada Post president and CEO. 鈥淚 think the employees here are really excited. It鈥檚 only 14 electric vehicles here, but it鈥檚 14 that we鈥檙e going to learn from. We鈥檙e going to figure out how best to charge them, how much energy they use on the local utility, how they perform. We think they鈥檙e going to perform even better than the current vehicles.鈥�
In addition to B.C., electric vehicles will be rolled out in Quebec shortly. Ettinger said provinces with 鈥渃lean electricity grids鈥� are being targeted initially.
Total costs for vehicles and infrastructure were not available, but the CEO said the vehicles are 鈥渨ell over $100,000鈥� each.
Sally Dam, Canada Post director of urban delivery strategies, said the cargo vans meet the needs of postal workers.
鈥淲e actually looked for a vehicle that had enough range for what our delivery agents are actually consuming in a day 鈥� it鈥檚 got a 68-kilowatt hour battery,鈥� said Dam.鈥� 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 there鈥檚 more than sufficient range available on these vehicles.鈥�
Level 2 charge stations will allow the vehicles to run, according to Dam, with one station having the ability to charge two vehicles at 鈥渕edium speed.鈥�
鈥淭hese are typical charging stations that you would find at your home 鈥� the ones that we have here are 19.2 kilowatts, and they鈥檙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,鈥� said Dam.
Lessons learned in Nanaimo will benefit Canada Post outlets across the country, according to Ettinger and Dam.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be using the details to test out some of those different types of scenarios of how we鈥檙e going to operate our electric fleet,鈥� Dam said. 鈥淪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 we鈥檙e going to move forward to all of our other sites.鈥�
Ettinger said workers will be covering the same routes as previously.
鈥淛ust instead of a gas vehicle, it鈥檚 an electric vehicle, quieter in the neighbourhood, smooth ride and it鈥檒l be great for the drivers in particular,鈥� 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.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a very good move 鈥� I鈥檓 hoping that as we move forward to electrification in Canada that we鈥檙e ensuring that our minerals are coming from places where they鈥檙e being environmentally and ethically sourced,鈥� said Armstrong.
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鈥� Karl Yu (@KarlYuBulletin)
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