New Zealand Post has been trying out a 3-wheeled electric vehicle and a 4-wheeled electric vehicle. They look a bit like a golf cart. Their maximum speed is 45km per hour on the road but when they are used on the footpath, they cannot go faster than 10kph.
The trials have been in Auckland City and in the Hutt Valley. Now Christchurch and New Plymouth will try these vehicles. At the moment, most letters are delivered by a postie on a bicycle although in some hilly places, the postie has a motor cycle or has to walk. Many bicycles used by posties are electric with a 250 watt motor on the front wheel to help on hills.
However, the number of letters is dropping. This year this has dropped 7% to 642 million pieces of mail and in the next three years is expected to drop to 500 million pieces. For this reason, mail deliveries in urban areas will reduce to only 3 days a week in July.
However, the number of parcels has increased because of on-line shopping. It is expensive to use both vans to deliver parcels and posties to deliver letters. Bicycles can carry only 23kg of mail and on average a postie on a bike travels about 23 km. The 4-wheeled vehicle can carry 300kg and travel 80km. The 3-wheeled vehicle can carry 120kg but if it has a trailer attached, it can carry another 150kg. It can travel 100km. The battery is then charged overnight.
Click here to see New Zealand Post electric vehicle.
Questions
- Do you post or receive letters? Is this different from what happened 5 years ago?
- Do you shop online?
- How is mail delivered in your country?