French plan green postal service (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

The French postal service, La Poste, plans to order 10,000 electric delivery vehicles, which it says are far more economical than normal cars or vans.
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"There has never been such a big order in the world," said French Industry Minister Francois Loos, quoted by the AFP news agency.

La Poste wants to reduce its 70m-euro (£48m; $95m) annual fuel bill.

La Poste has been testing eight French electric vehicles since 2005, made by SVA - a firm owned by the defence group Dassault and vehicle manufacturer Heuliez.

"According to our tests, it is six times cheaper to run an electric vehicle than a diesel vehicle," said La Poste chairman Jean-Paul Bailly.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6564935.stm

[kestrel91316]

1. When in France, I LOVED la Poste! I cashed my traveler's checks there

and found out all sorts of local info.

Loved their little pharmacies, too. Got a blister on my toe and needed a certain type of bandaid for it. I spoke only rudimentary French, but I pointed and gestured and said "Je voudrais un bandage". The pharmacist sat me down, had me take off my shoe, had a peek at the problem, and pulled the exact thing I needed off the shelf. Very helpful and friendly and nice people, the French.

Obviously thinking with their BIG heads about this energy thing, too.

[soothsayer]

2. our postal service (here in the US) uses alot of natural gas vehicles

here's an article from 2004:

USPS Delivers - With AFVs

The United States Postal Service (USPS) runs the largest federal fleet, with approximately 208,000 vehicles. Of those vehicles, USPS operates approximately 7,400 alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). The majority of these AFVs are converted "long life vehicles" (LLVs), designed with a 1,000-lb capacity and a 24-year life span. By converting a large portion of these vehicles to compressed natural gas (CNG), the USPS has created the nation's largest fleet of CNG delivery vehicles. The USPS also has other medium- and heavy-duty trucks that operate on alternative fuels.

Early in 1998, the USPS purchased 601 light-duty CNG or E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) AFVs for purposes other than to deliver mail. These original equipment manufacturer (OEM) vehicles include Ford Motor Company models of the ethanol flex-fuel Taurus, the CNG bi-fuel Contour, the CNG bi-fuel 1/2-ton and 3/4-ton pickups, the CNG bi-fuel 1-ton van, and the CNG dedicated 3/4-ton van.

Then USPS made another bold move in September of this year, purchasing 10,000 E85 Ford Explorers that will deliver mail. The Ford vehicles will be custom built with right-hand drive and fitted with the USPS delivery body.

In 1999, USPS plans to purchase a number of electric vehicles (EVs), and will seek cost-sharing from local governments, utilities, and various other sources (the majority of these EVs will be located in Clean Cities communities). They also have long-term plans to convert all 128 trucks operating from the Dallas, Texas, bulk-mail center to run on liquefied natural gas (LNG).

snip
USPS has been working with the ethanol industry to expand the ethanol infrastructure in the D.C. area where E85 vehicles will be located. �"With the addition of Ford E85 vehicles, more ethanol infrastructure will be established by the ethanol industry, which will be used by the USPS as well as other government agencies, such as GSA," said Marguerite Downey, AFV Program Manager, Environmental Management Policy, USPS. "The smartest deployment program (for ethanol vehicles) is to work with other federal fleets."


much more here http://www.eere.energy.gov/cleancities/ccn/archive/2_5feature.html