Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Table of Contents
Table of Contents....................................................................................................... 1
“The United States Postal Service maintains the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the
world with about 221,000 vehicles in service,” said Congressman Steve Israel (D-
NY). (Congressman Steve Israel, December 17th, 2009 “New “e-
Drive” Bill Introduced to Electrify Postal Delivery Fleet,”
http://serrano.house.gov/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=678)...............................................2
INHERENCY:................................................................................................................ 3
SOLVENCY:................................................................................................................. 4
1. Batteries.............................................................................................................. 4
Batteries are expensive and potential for price reductions is limited. .................5
DISADVANTAGES........................................................................................................6
Environmental Policy - The official rules or regulations concerning the environment adopted,
implemented, and enforced by some governmental agency.
- William P. Cunningham (University of Minnesota), Mary Ann Cunningham (Vassar College),
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Gracie Cockett –HSD RC –Electric Postal Vehicles NEG
Barbara Woodworth Saigo (St. Cloud State University), The Text Book “Environmental Science:
A Global Concern”, McRawHill (Online Learning Center) Glossary Page, Copyright 2003,
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0070294267/student_view0/glossary_e-l.html
Standards:
Fair limits
An interpretation of the resolution that offers fair, reasonable limits should be upheld over one
that is ridiculously broad. Our definitions offer an interpretation that is not ridiculously broad,
but not too narrow. The affirmative team’s interpretation is so broad as to include policy reform
that should fall under almost any policy.
Violations:
Postal Service Policy
By switching all postal service vehicles to electric vehicles, the affirmative team’s plan does not
directly reform an environmental policy. Rather, it reforms a US Postal Service policy.
According to Congressman Steve Israel in December 2009:
“The United States Postal Service maintains the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world with
about 221,000 vehicles in service,” said Congressman Steve Israel (D-NY).
(Congressman Steve Israel, December 17th, 2009 “New “e-Drive” Bill Introduced to
Electrify Postal Delivery Fleet,” http://serrano.house.gov/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=678)
As we see from this piece of evidence, it is currently the US Postal Service that maintains the
postal vehicles. In the status quo “the official rules” concerning postal vehicles are from the US
Postal Service. It is their (the US Postal Service’s) policy that the affirmative team is reforming,
not an environmental policy.
Impact:
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Gracie Cockett –HSD RC –Electric Postal Vehicles NEG
Affirmative loss: The first and foremost burden of the affirmative team is to fulfill topicality, by
affirming the resolution. Unfortunately, the affirmative team does not affirm the resolution, but
actually affirms a reform in postal service policy. Since the affirmative team does not fulfill
their most basic burden, they cannot win today’s debate round. The stock issue of topicality
should go the negative team, warranting a negative ballot in today’s debate round.
INHERENCY:
1. Postal service trends lean toward electric vehicles
US Postal Service is already testing electric vehicles in a quest to begin
electrifying their fleet.
Tony Borroz (journalist for Wired.com, a technology news
st
website) January 21 , 2010 “Postal Service to Test Electric Truck”
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/01/ac-propulsion-mail-truck/
The U.S. Postal Service keeps chugging along in its quest to find an electric delivery truck, and it
has enlisted the help of two outfits for the final part of its study. One of them, AC Propulsion, is
well-known within the EV [electric vehicle] community. The other, AutoPort, is the company
that gets to do the heavy lifting. The companies will work together on the engineering,
development and conversion of a conventional mail truck to electric power, one of five ideas the
Postal Service is considering to begin electrifying its fleet of 142,000 vehicles. Once the truck is
built and tested, it will see duty on the streets of Washington, D.C.
Newest news: there are things being done behind the scenes to push EVs [electric vehicles] into
the fleet sooner rather than later. This week, during the Washington Auto Show, EV [electric
vehicle] advocates are holding meetings with Congressional staffers about this very issue. The e-
Drive bill just got a new website, which gives people who aren't in D.C. a way to support the bill
and to contact their Representatives and Senators to voice that support.
SOLVENCY:
1. Batteries
Battery effectiveness is constrained by weather conditions.
Michael Ravnitzky (Special Assistant to Commissioner Ruth Goldway, U.S. Postal Regulatory
Commission,) May 2009 “Electric Drive Vehicles For Mail Delivery: Identifying Key Issues,”
the Regulation and Competition Center for Research in Regulated Industries – Rutgers
University, http://66.208.7.72/(S(lbcjaay1b3wzldeyh2f2jm45))/prc-
docs/library/refdesk/techpapers/prcstaff/Ravnitzky%20Eastern%20Conf%20%20Paper.pdf
Electric drive vehicle performance may be constrained in at least two ways by ambient
temperature conditions. First, battery performance is affected by cold temperatures. This can be
remedied by an auxiliary battery heating element, but that expends battery power, even when the
vehicle is idle. Second, any heating (or cooling) of the driver’s space requires substantial
additional electric power. In addition, windshields require energy for defrosting on cold days.
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Gracie Cockett –HSD RC –Electric Postal Vehicles NEG
Impact: The affirmative has not shown that the current workers know these different
maintenance skills or that they can be taught. If the workers can’t do the maintenance
work required, the electric vehicles cannot be used effectively.
DISADVANTAGES
Disadvantage 1: Job loss
Link: The affirmative switches postal vehicle fleet to electric.
Brink: Electric vehicles have a lighter overall weight than conventional cars.
• Greater operating efficiency because HEVs use regenerative braking, which helps to minimize energy loss and recover
the energy used to slow down or stop a vehicle;
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Gracie Cockett –HSD RC –Electric Postal Vehicles NEG
• Lighter engines because HEV engines can be sized to accommodate average load, not peak load, which reduces the
engine's weight;
• Greater fuel efficiency because hybrids consume significantly less fuel than vehicles powered by gasoline alone;
• Cleaner operation because HEVs can run on alternative fuels (which have lower emissions), thereby decreasing our
dependency on fossil fuels (which helps ensure our national security); and
• Lighter vehicle weight overall because special lightweight materials are used in their
manufacture.
The NRC [National Research Council] study concluded that the subsequent downsizing and
down-weighting of vehicles, "while resulting in significant fuel savings, also resulted in a safety
penalty." Specifically, the NRC estimated that in 1993 there were between 1,300 and 2,600
motor vehicle crash deaths that would not have occurred if cars were as heavy as they were in
1976.
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