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Using street lamps as EV chargers

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61 points rbanffy | 5 comments | 04 Nov 25 18:08 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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koehr ◴[12 Nov 25 11:01 UTC] No.45898697[source]▶
It's interesting how this sounds like a cutting edge experiment, while this is a common thing to see in Germany and other European states for quite a while now.
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cjs_ac ◴[12 Nov 25 11:28 UTC] No.45898870[source]▶
I live in the UK; my postman walks up to my house and posts my letters through a flap in the door. I grew up in Australia, where our postman used to ride up to our letterbox on a postal-service-issued motorbike, because the suburban houses are too far apart to make walking economical.

The fact that putting EV chargers in lampposts works in Europe doesn't necessitate that doing so will work in the natural environment, built environment and cultural context of the US. They have to do their own assessments to work out the best solution to the same problem in a different context.

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1. dlcarrier ◴[12 Nov 25 15:52 UTC] No.45901649[source]▶
In the US, the postal service contacts out rural mail routes, and in many states it's legal for the contractor to drive from the passenger seat.
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2. root ◴[12 Nov 25 16:13 UTC] No.45901942[source]▶
Oh that seems difficult. In Finland the postal service uses right hand drive cars.
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3. redserk ◴[12 Nov 25 20:02 UTC] No.45905617[source]▶
This is false.

Most rural routes are served by the USPS-proper.

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4. dlcarrier ◴[12 Nov 25 20:15 UTC] No.45905846[source]▶
If most, but not all routes are served by USPS proper, and the rest are contracted out, than it is true the USPS contracts out routes.
5. dlcarrier ◴[12 Nov 25 20:35 UTC] No.45906221[source]▶
They do in the US too, but contractors use their own vehicles. Imported right-hand drive cars can be imported, but their use is rare.

This is partially because the car dealer lobby convinced congress to prevent the importation of cars less than 25 years old. Ironically, they did so using safety regulations, so a brand-new car meeting current European safety regulations is legally unsafe, but a 25-year-old car, complying with what European safety regulations were 25 years ago, less any deterioration in those safety systems, is legally safe.