Electronic mail has been around for a couple of decades now… but what about electric mail?
That’s what the Japan Post Service Company will provide after purchasing around 1,000 electric vehicles for its mail collection and delivery service.
The company has committed to buying the converted Fuji Heavy mini-vehicles equipped with lithium-ion battery packs and electric drive from Zerosports Company during the next fiscal year.
Each van has a range of at least 62miles following an eight hour charge and is reportedly priced around 20-30 per cent cheaper than other major automakers’ electric cars.
According to the report, Japan Post has been testing the vehicles since 2009 to evaluate their cost and performance. At the moment it replaces around 3,000 of its delivery and other vehicles each year and has decided to make one third of the annual replacements electric vehicles with Zerosports also expected to get almost all of the company’s electric vehicle orders for the fiscal year 2011, which ends in March, 2012.
