Fed ex hybrid encounter

Fedex in San Diego uses EV's. When I was working downtown and when I venture down there i usually always see 1 or 2.

If FedEx were to use an entire fleet of electric vans—roughly 100 to 200 vehicles per delivery center—when they recharged, their energy demands would be equivalent to a small neighborhood. And although they can go 100 miles per charge (and carry 3,300 lbs. of packages), once depleted they take eight hours to reach full capacity again.

 

Just to give a source to your quote and some more information
FedEx's Electric Vehicle Experiment - Businessweek

I would expect the problems to be worst in NYC where infrastructure is old and new stuff is hard to build. This should not be much of a problem in southern california especially if they charge with smart chargers knowing grid demand at the time. It will require more infrastructure, but if it reduces LA smog, that is great. There are other benefits

Other companies are also in the experiment

Then again, for the urban eco delivery nothing can beat the electric tricycle. Pretty cool video of it being used in Paris in link.
FedEx Uses Electric Trikes for Deliveries in Paris! [VIDEO] | Electric Bike Report | Electric Bike, Ebikes, Electric Bicycles, E Bike, Reviews

 

When I was a kid, there was a local dairy that had electric milk delivery trucks. They would plug in when they returned from their runs and be ready to go in the morning.

 

No, just older than you.

I'm almost old enough to remember home milk delivery.

 

Nope! At that time I lived in rural Ohio but my grandmother lived in Akron on Wooster Avenue which had a big hill. The milkman came from the Borden Dairy and drove a Divco Electric Truck. The milkman actually stood when he drove, the seat could move out of the way. This allowed him to jump in and out quickly. The driver on our route was the best. He could hop out of that truck before it was quite stopped, bound to the porch, fill the milk box, grab the empties and be off in the truck in a blink of an eye.

In the summertime, when I would stay at my grandmother's house if I was up when the milkman came by, my grandmother would let me go with him to the apartment buildings that were just over the hill. I'd deliver a couple floors in each and my pay? Usually it was either ice cream or chocolate milk. I was five or six years old at the time and loved it. So it had to be '71 or '72.

Sorry to hijack the thread with my memories of the Divco Electric Milk Delivery Trucks of my childhood. By the way, Divcos were built in Michigan. I

 

I designed some equipment for trucks that FedEx was going to buy. That is not one of them though. They were pure EV's and they work great for deliveries.

You can still get home milk delivery. Our house and all in our neighbourhood have white boxes on our porch. If you pay for the service they will come by every couple days and exchange your empty glass milk bottles for new ones. I think the milk box is stamped "Royal Crest" but a local dairy farm took over the business. This is in the Colorado Rockies.

 

i wish they had one in my neighborhood, instead of the dirty, smelly, noisy diesel they drive around!