AC Propulsion, a company engaged in the development, design and manufacture of electric vehicle (EV) technology, has partnered with AutoPort, an automotive conversion and processing company, to engineer and develop an EV conversion prototype for United States Postal Service (USPS).
AC Propulsion and AutoPort are among the five suppliers selected by USPS for its feasibility study for the possible conversion of its 142,000 Long Life Vehicles (LLVs) to plug-in battery electric vehicles.
AC Propulsion and AutoPort will strip off the gasoline engine, transmission and other components from the current USPS LLV design and refit it with AC Propulsion AC-150 drive system, an integrated power system that includes an AC induction motor, inverter, charger and 12V power supply.
The converted EV, which will have Vehicle-to-Grid technology integrated into its drive system, will be manufactured on-site at AutoPort’s facilities in New Castle, Delaware and will comply with Guidelines for EV Safety SAE J2344, and all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
The conversion prototype will be tested against the USPS’s requirements at AutoPort’s facilities, and then will be placed into service in the DC metro area for at least a year, where they will be monitored for carrier satisfaction, cost of operation and maintenance.
AutoPort president Roy Kirchner said that for AutoPort, this is a landmark day in history, to be one of the companies selected by the USPS to participate in their demonstration project involving the conversion of an LLV to an all electric vehicle.