Air Date: Week of December 13, 2024

An example of the new USPS electric vehicles, or “duckmobiles”. This version, an Oshkosh Next Generation Delivery Vehicle, was on display at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show. (Photo: U.S. Government Accountability Office, Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

The newest Popemobile for the Holy Father is an all-electric Mercedes-Benz, and most of the new U.S. Postal Service trucks are EVs, too. Jim Motavalli writes about green transportation for Autoweek and Barron’s and talks with Living on Earth’s Aynsley O’Neill about the shift to EVs by the Vatican, Post Offices, and everyday consumers.

Transcript

DOERING: It’s Living on Earth, I’m Jenni Doering

BELTRAN: And I’m Paloma Beltran. As Catholics around the world turn their eyes to the Vatican before the celebration of the 2025 Jubilee begins on December 24 of this year, they’ll see Pope Francis in a brand new electric Popemobile. The one-of-a-kind Mercedes-Benz will eventually be joined by many other EVs, as the Vatican plans to make all its vehicles emission-free by 2030. This is a logical next step after Pope Francis’ climate change encyclical Laudato Si’, published in 2015, and his follow up Laudate Deum, both of which have made a theological case for climate action.

But the Vatican isn’t alone in going electric with its new fleet. The United States Postal Service began the roll out of new mail delivery vehicles earlier this year, most of which are electric. These cars replace the aging USPS fleet whose design dates back to the 80s, and are drawing attention for their driver-friendly features like air conditioning, safety improvements, and ergonomic seating - but also for their unusual design. With a tall roof and relatively flat hood, the new vehicles look remarkably similar to a duck’s head. To talk more about these EVs and what they might mean for the industry, Living on Earth’s Aynsley O’Neill called up our car expert, Jim Motavalli, who writes about green transportation for Autoweek and Barrons’.

O'NEILL: So our news peg for this story is that the Vatican has this new electric popemobile. And I'll be entirely honest, Jim, we partially just wanted to do this so that we could say popemobile a bunch. What is your perspective on the Vatican taking a step like this towards sustainability?

MOTAVALLI: Well, I believe they've said they want all the Vatican fleet to be electric by 2030, I think was the date. Yeah, it's a very good step they would take. And of course, it's in the air in Europe, because all of Europe is going to be banning internal combustion, basically, by 2035 and now in England, they're talking about doing it by 2030. You know, the Pope would pretty much have to be driving an electric car pretty soon, but I think there's been some consideration under the current pope of not driving a really ostentatious vehicle. Or so... This one is a Mercedes Benz. Probably cost millions to make, so...

O'NEILL: And we are talking about Europe, but there's a little bit of this going on in the US too. We are also looking at these Postal Service duck cars, and for our listeners, they're called that because they have a sort of a tall head and flat bill, like a duck. And the Postal Service is rolling them out and some big percentage of them are EVs, with all of them eventually going to be EVs by, I think they said 2026. What do you think of the design on those, Jim, and also that move from the US Postal Service?

The new popemobile is also Mercedes-Benz's first fully electric vehicle.https://t.co/h8dvOb2u9V

— RNS (@RNS) December 8, 2024

MOTAVALLI: Well, this has been a long time coming. The contract to build these Pope... We almost called it a popemobile there... They look kind of like Popemobiles, actually. The award to build these postal service vehicles has been in process for more than 10 years, and the vehicles are very ungainly looking. Undoubtedly, they are not handsome vehicles, but what makes them not attractive is the very big windows, and that is being met very well by the postal drivers. They like them. They think they're really fun to drive, they like the EVS. They're quiet, and they're replacing some really outdated jeeps and other vehicles. So they're very happy with them so far from what I understand. There was a lot of debate over what percentage of the vehicles would be electric, and some of the contenders for the contract would have built all EVs, but currently it's going to be a certain number, and it seems to be fluctuating how many of them will be EVs. But actually, the duty of delivering mail is perfect for electric vehicles, because it's a lot of stop and go, and that allows you to use regenerative braking, and your range would be pretty good for EVs. This is the perfect use case, actually.

O'NEILL: And I mean, you joked that they kind of look like popemobiles, but as I was looking into them, figuring out why that design was so weird, it's something like they've got to make sure that the shortest driver can see over the hood, but that the tallest driver can stand up in the back to gather the mail. And so those of us at the Living on Earth offices have been joking that it's a really big year for EVs that you can stand up in, because the Pope is also going to be standing up in his Popemobile.

MOTAVALLI: It's funny. I just saw an exhibit of vehicles that were built for the King and Queen of England that was touring around the US, and they're very similar to the Popemobile, though they have like, what do you call it a reviewing platform for the dignitary to stand up and acknowledge the crowds.

O'NEILL: Now, I don't know about Vatican fleet numbers, but it is something like tens of thousands of postal service vehicles that are now going to be these little duck cars. My question for you, Jim is, to what extent do you think that these statements are sort of showing a trend towards a tipping point for EV acceptance?

MOTAVALLI: I think it's helping. I mean, there's a lot in the news today that's saying that EV sales have tanked. They often put it that way. They use dramatic language to say, they're in the toilet or whatever. This is not actually true. The rate of EV adoption has slowed a bit, but it's still climbing, and some of the EV companies are having their best sales year in terms of selling EVs. So the adoption rate is still climbing. And it's funny, there are parts of the world where not having an EV is novel, and one of them is Norway, where the 95% of new car sales are EVs, and Iceland is another country that's nearing 90% EV adoption. In the US, so I don't know... We're on 10% now, but 10% is better than 7%, is better than 6%, which was in a few years ago. So I think people are a little impatient to see EVs take over. But if you look at when we switched from horses to cars, that was like a 30 year process. So in say, 1920 you can look at pictures of what was on the road, and you'll see horse drawn carts still being used. So, we're in that stage now, if you take a picture of the traffic stream, one in 10 cars might be an EV. Or if you're in California, it's going to be more than that. And you know, there's pockets of acceptance, and they're in places you wouldn't expect. Florida's very high in EV adoption, Texas is, and the coasts.

O'NEILL: Well, Jim, for our listeners who might be themselves considering an EV, what do you think is one thing that they need to keep in mind about the impact of going electric?

MOTAVALLI: One thing you should remember is that people get anxious about the public charging network, and there's reason for that, but 80% of your charging is going to be at home. So if you have a good situation at home, if you have an EV charger, if you have a garage, it's really helpful, or just a way of putting an EV charger on the wall of your house, you're going to do most of your charging there. For one thing, it's a lot cheaper. I paid at one of the public charging networks I used when I was driving up the coast, I was paid 57 cents a kilowatt hour at an Electrify America station. And that's that's really high. You'd have a really good incentive to charge at home, and you're going to be able to do that most of the time. So you really shouldn't have as much worry about charging as people do, and the prices are down very much. And there's lots of good choice now. There's dozens of EVs on the market and more coming out every day, so I think there's some excellent choices people can make with an EV right now.

DOERING: That’s Jim Motavalli, author of High Voltage and blogger with Autoweek and Barron’s. He spoke with Living on Earth’s Aynsley O’Neill, who joins us now for more on this story. Hi Aynsley and what if anything do we know about how the incoming Trump administration feels about these new US Postal Service EVs? I mean, Donald Trump hasn’t exactly been singing the praises of electric vehicles.

O’NEILL: Well, Jenni you got that right. I read an article from Reuters that says that the Trump transition team is looking at canceling the USPS EV contracts, which include deals with Oshkosh and Ford. And it also sounds like they’re talking about getting rid of the $7500 dollar EV tax credits that President Biden created* with the Inflation Reduction Act, if Reuters’ sources are correct.

BELTRAN: Huh. That’s kind of perplexing, isn’t it that the Trump team is so anti-EV subsidy. After all, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become very close to the President-elect.

O’NEILL: I know, Paloma, it does seem that way at first glance, but here’s the thing, cancelling the EV tax credits could actually be pretty good for Tesla and Musk. The company already has a huge foothold in the EV market, with around half of all US electric vehicle sales in recent months, and by the way it’s gotten there in part thanks to the EV tax credits. No other car company has benefitted more from these subsidies and they’ve helped Tesla pull ahead of the pack of other automakers on EV sales. So Elon Musk told shareholders in July that ditching the EV tax credit could hold other companies back while Tesla coasts on all its momentum.

DOERING: Ah, well there it is. You know, Jim Motavalli mentioned there are some US EV makers that are doing well despite a slight dip in the overall rate of EV growth. So, Tesla must be one of those – which others are doing well at this point?

O’NEILL: Yeah, Tesla is still on top but GM and Chevrolet EVs are selling well too.

BELTRAN: So no wonder we’re seeing more and more electric cars on the roads these days.

O’NEILL: Yeah, and one of them might be coming to a post office near you. But no telling when we’ll see the Popemobile come around. There’s only one Popemobile, after all…

DOERING: Ha, you really did just want an excuse to say “Popemobile” a bunch on the show!

O’NEILL: Ooh, just a little bit.

DOERING: Thanks Aynsley!

O’NEILL: Anytime.

*CLARIFICATION: The U.S. EV tax credits were originally adopted in 2010, and were reinstated during the Biden Administration.

 

Links

To learn more about the new, eco-friendly popemobile

To check out pictures of the quirky USPS "duckmobile"

For more insights into Jim Motavalli’s work on EVs and sustainability