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Execute Contract to Cosponsor Demonstration and Evaluation of United States Postal Service Electric Mail Delivery Vehicles

SYNOPSIS:

The United States Postal Service (USPS) selected Ford Motor Company to provide 500 electric mail delivery vehicles for demonstration. These mail delivery vehicles are derived from the Ford Ranger EV pick-up truck. If this demonstration is successful, the USPS will order an additional 5500 such vehicles for postal operation. Southern California Edison (SCE) was selected by the USPS for testing and evaluation of the electric mail delivery vehicles and has submitted a proposal to the AQMD requesting funding for this activity. The testing would be conducted at the SCE EV Technical Center in Pomona. The total cost of the 500-vehicle demonstration is approximately $23.5 million. The cost share for the testing and evaluation activity shall not exceed $399,617.

COMMITTEE:

Technology, April 28, 2000, Recommended for Approval

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Authorize the Chairman to execute a contract with Southern California Edison for the testing and evaluation of electric mail delivery vehicles, in an amount not to exceed $399,617 from the Clean Fuels Fund.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

The AQMP calls for the accelerated introduction of both light- and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles as an air quality attainment strategy. In support of this, ARB regulations governing new-vehicle manufacturers require the production and sale of ZEVs in California. These regulations and other ARB-manufacturer agreements resulted in the introduction in recent years of electric vehicles (EVs) by General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Ford, Daimler-Chrysler and Nissan.

United States Postal Service (USPS) mail delivery vehicles are an excellent application for EV technology. Its Carrier Route Vehicles (CRVs) travel an average of 20-25 miles per day, well within the range of EVs with lead-acid battery packs. For several years, the USPS studied the conversion of existing CRVs from gasoline engines to electric drivetrains. While demonstrations proved that EVs could perform the required tasks, there were a number of problems with the converted vehicles that made such an approach infeasible.

In 1999, the USPS initiated the "Electric Carrier Route Vehicle" project in which it planned to deploy up to 6000 new electric mail delivery vehicles at post offices nationwide over five years. Phase 1 of this project called for the deployment of 500 electric CRVs. The USPS issued a Request for Proposals on December 30, 1998, which required bidders to provide 500 new electric CRVs with the option to provide an additional 5500 vehicles pending their satisfactory performance in Phase 1. Both Ford Motor Company and General Motors bid on this project using technology they had developed for their light-duty EV trucks. Ford won the competition with a bid of $20.7 million or about $40,000 per electric CRV. The contract was signed December 22, 1999, and includes the charging hardware, operator training, and all maintenance for the first 500 electric CRVs. Additional program costs are also incurred for infrastructure upgrades and testing and evaluation bringing the total program cost to approximately $23.5 million.

The electric CRVs will be demonstrated in the following areas:

Proposal

Before proceeding to Phase 2 of the Electric Carrier Route Vehicle project, the USPS is requiring the electric CRVs to be evaluated under the Department of Energy EV protocol called "EV America." This protocol assesses the electric drivetrain, battery pack and chassis performance over a one-year test period. Under USPS direction and with the endorsement of Ford and the California Energy Commission, Southern California Edison (SCE) has developed a proposal to evaluate the first four electric CRVs. This together with the field demonstration of the remaining vehicles will form the basis for proceeding to Phase 2.

SCE proposes to conduct the following under the EV America protocol:

• Test Procedure Modification – SCE will modify and adapt the extensive EV America test protocol to match the USPS electric CRV. These include numerous performance tests as well as the reliability test procedure.
  
  
• Baseline Performance Tests – Two electric CRVs will then be tested for two months to assess their on-road performance. These tests include acceleration, gradeability, deceleration, electrical power consumption and range in different modes, rough-road course, braking, road handling, battery charging, and battery charger performance.
  
  
• Accelerated Reliability Tests – Two different electric CRVs will be tested for twelve months each to determine the reliability and durability of the electric drivetrain and CRV chassis. These vehicles will accumulate mileage on public roads around the clock. The CRVs will only stop to recharge and have maintenance and repairs performed. Also, these reliability vehicles will help determine the cost of operation of the electric CRVs.

Benefits to AQMD

The proposed project is included in the March 2000 update of the Technology Advancement Plan under Project 2000M5-4, "Demonstration of Innovative Battery Electric Vehicle Applications." The AQMP relies on the expedited implementation of advanced technologies and clean-burning fuels in Southern California to achieve air quality standards. This project will help better understand and evaluate zero-emission electric vehicle technology in new on-road applications.

The annual project emission benefits of the 378 electric CRVs to be operated in the Basin are: 2.6 tons ROG, 27.3 tons CO and 2.3 tons NO_X.

Sole Source Justification

Section VIII.B.2. of the Procurement Policy and Procedure identifies four major provisions under which a sole source award may be justified. This request for a sole source award is made under provision B.2.d.: Other circumstances exist which in the determination of the Executive Officer require such waiver in the best interest of the AQMD. Specifically, these circumstances are B.2.d.(1): Projects involving cost sharing by multiple sponsors.

Phase 1 of the Electric Carrier Route Vehicle project is being sponsored by the following entities with their expected contributions:

SCE has extensive experience in operating and testing EVs. In the past 11 years, SCE fleet EVs have driven more than 2 million miles, and SCE presently operates more than 300 EVs. The EV Technical Center in Pomona supports the SCE EV program. This center is one of two organizations approved by the US Department of Energy for the evaluation of EVs under the EV America protocol. SCE is an active participant in significant EV research and development and in industry-wide technical committees. SCE is highly qualified to test and evaluate the electric CRVs.

Resource Impacts

The total cost for Phase 1 of the Electric Carrier Route Vehicle project is approximately $23.5 million. The amount of AQMD funding for the testing and evaluation contract with SCE shall not exceed $399,617.

Sufficient funds are available from the Clean Fuels Fund, established as a special revenue fund resulting from the state-mandated Clean Fuels Program. The Clean Fuels Program, under Health and Safety Code Sections 40448.5 and 40512 and Vehicle Code Section 9250.11, establishes mechanisms to collect revenues from mobile sources to support projects to increase the utilization of clean fuels, including the development of the necessary advanced enabling technologies. Funds collected from motor vehicles are restricted, by statute, to be used for projects and program activities related to mobile sources that support the objectives of the Clean Fuels Program.

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