Mahindra Examines 2nd Michigan Plant For Potential Postal Contract

by Matt Posky

May 3rd, 2019 1:23 PM

mahindra examines 2nd michigan plant for potential postal contract

Mahindra, the company that produces the intentionally Jeep-like Roxor, is looking at sites in Detroit, Oakland County, and Genesee County in the event that it lands a $6 billion contract to supply the U.S. Postal Service with delivery vehicles.

While USPS has already begun supplementing the now-ancient Grumman LLV with more-modern vans and utility vehicles, it launched an official search for a replacement in 2015. Mahindra was one of the finalists, along with AM General, Karsan, Oshkosh-Ford, Utilimaster, and VT Hackney.

The Postal Service plans on making a final decision this summer as to who will build some 180,000 replacement vehicles over the next six years.

According to Crain’s Detroit Business, Rick Haas, president and CEO of Mahindra Automotive North America, said he likes the company’s odds, acknowledging that the USPS’ decision will influence the direction it takes as an automaker.

“If we get a piece of that or all of that contract, that opens a bunch of doors, shuts a few other ones,” Haas said at a Troy Chamber of Commerce event from earlier this week. “If we don’t get it, it shuts some doors, opens some other ones. So we’re going to evaluate it all.”

Mahindra invested $22.3 million in a facility in Auburn Hills for assembly of its current Jeep CJ-based Roxor, renovating a former GM facility to use as a parts distribution center.

From Crain’s Detroit:

Haas told an audience of business executives and professionals that the automaker has six different products in development at the Mahindra North American Technical Center in Troy that could be paired with production of a postal service vehicle at a second manufacturing facility.

“The question is which ones do you start to push,” Haas said. “It’s going to depend on what happens over the summer.”

Haas declined to say which sites within Michigan the company is leaning toward. But he indicated they were all brownfield sites that need redevelopment.

Economic development officials from North Carolina, South Carolina, Arizona and Wisconsin have all approached Mahindra about building a plant in their states, Haas said.

With the USPS making its decision relatively soon, Mahindra will have to make some quick decisions if it wins the contract. Haas indicated that the firm will likely need to settle on a manufacturing location by the end of 2019. He said the final choice will be based upon “ease of business, your personal loyalties and how much money are you going to make.”

[Image: Mahindra & Mahindra]

#DeliveryVehicles #GovernmentContracts #Jeep #Mahindra&Mahindra #MahindraAutomotiveNorthAmerica #PostalVehicles #ROXOR #U.S.PostalService #USPS

Comments

Join the conversation

5 of 47 comments

Jeff S on May 05, 2019

Scoutdude--It depends where you live as to if the postal vehicles are parked in a fenced in area. Many postal vehicles are parked out in the open. Also you still have to make the battery serviceable so I don't know how you would make them harder to remove unless some kind of locking system could be installed to make it harder for thieves to remove. I do think eventually that electric vehicles will become more common but the battery technology has to be developed further.

Like Reply
- See 2 previous
- Mcs on May 05, 2019
  
  @jeffs: When an EV is plugged into a charger, it communicates status to the charger. If someone unplugs the vehicle or removes the battery, a notification is/can be sent out. Some vehicles lock the plug to the vehicle too. "True you can charge overnight but what about a vehicle that is out on deliveries for 8 to 12 hours in all kinds of weather" I found an unverified source that says average distance per day for a postal delivery vehicle is 40 miles. That's less than 3 hours to bring back to full with a lowly level 2 charger. " the size and weight of batteries along with the range still is not there yet." CATL is now shipping 300 Wh/kg cells and along with other manufacturers, they are on the path to 500 Wh/kg. A base Model 3 is 50 kWh. At 4 miles/kWh that's 200 miles range. In extreme conditions (based on personal experience) maybe 100 miles range a 2 miles per kWh. The cells for a 50 kWh at 300 Wh/kg should weigh 166.66 kg or 367.44 lbs (if my math is correct). Bump that up to 500 Wh/kg and the cells weigh 100 kg or 220 lbs. With a lighter weight, efficiency and range go up too, so you could even go with a smaller battery. Ten gallons of gas is 63 lbs and a transmission that's eliminated maybe another 60 lbs. The battery case and cooling will add some more weight, but the weight difference isn't that huge given current battery energy densities. Several labs have various electrode coating technologies that if they can actually get them into production at low costs, should easily get the density up to 1000 Wh/kg in a few years.
  
  Like
- Scoutdude on May 05, 2019
  
  I guess I remembered it wrong this https://www.greatbusinessschools.org/usps-long-life-vehicle/ shows 18 miles per day is the average with many doing much much less. Like I said in my state, all the post offices I've seen are fenced and the reality is that fencing the lot would not be a large expense. As far as making it hard to steal I was thinking of a locking mechanism or just putting it in a location that they can't roll under and drop down quick and easily. It is not like the batteries need servicing like a lead acid that needs its water topped up. You would remove it when it is being reconditioned/replaced which should be only occurring several years apart. So you don't need a set up designed for a battery swap scheme which so far has never worked out.
  
  Like
- Scoutdude on May 05, 2019
  
  @mcs Per the link above 96% of their delivery vehicles travel less than 40 miles per day. 91% travel less than 30 mi per day and 69% less than 20 mi per day, at least at the time of that study. 16% are under 10mi per day, which gives a fair amount of room to use a battery that has lost the majority of its range.
  
  Like
Jeff S on May 05, 2019

I would be very surprised if the USPC went to an all electric fleet anytime soon. I would say if USPC goes to an electric fleet it would be better to start in a metropolitan area that has less distances to travel. Not all mail deliveries are 30 miles or less and that is why it would be better to start in a metropolitan area where that would be the case. I don't think it would be good to start rural mail delivery with electric vehicles--but I could see this working in a large metropolitan area. "Several labs have various electrode coating technologies that if they can actually get them into production at low costs, should easily get the density up to 1000 Wh/kg in a few years." Yes I have read about this but the current USPC bidding would not include that technology. It would probably be better if the USPC replaced their vehicles over a longer period of time and allowed enough flexibility to include a few electric vehicles where they could be better used and then expand the fleet of electric vehicles when the density of the batteries is increased. The problem with most Government contracts is that they bid on current technology and do not allow for flexibility. I know this first hand when the Government bids on replacement laptops it includes only the current technology and by the time the laptops are made and delivered they are out of date. It seems that the Government needs to add more flexibility to contracts to allow for newer improved technology.

Like Reply