New UPS trucks designed to add drone on top

[soberups]

The batteries on newer generation drones are all lithium ion, which overcomes a lot of the hurdle. The materials they also use are extremely light, like carbon fiber. We had drones at my university that were small and could actually fly around for a number of hours without needing a charge. The power to weight ratio isn't impossible to overcome with current gen batteries. The issues become more of battery life. These things can't make 25 stops with one charge, they're going to be limited to essentially amazon envelopes under 10 pounds in the current form and under 5 stops. Not efficient with our set up.

How well and how far would those drones have flown if you hung a one-gallon jug of milk underneath them? A gallon of milk weighs 10 lbs. All of the battery-powered drones I have ever seen were made of foam and carbon-fiber and they weighed a pound or two at the most. OK, multiply that by a factor of 10, put a heavy duty lithium ion battery in it, and you have a 10 lb. drone. Maybe that drone can fly for some distance like you say, but when you hang 10 pounds of cargo from it you have just doubled its weight. This would be the functional equivalent of putting 2500 lbs of lead in the trunk of an economy car, although with a drone it would even be worse because of the aerodynamic drag of the cargo plus any headwinds it might encounter. Its not going to work. Lithium-ion batteries aren't even going to get us close to the power-to-weight ratio we need to make drone deliveries a viable option.

 

[FrigidFTSup]

That's the first good post you've ever made Kudos.

P.S. Not at all...they could be carried.

What? A swallow carrying a coconut?

 

[MyTripisCut]

My center manager just informed me that these will be our helpers for peak this year...

 

[FrigidFTSup]

How well and how far would those drones have flown if you hung a one-gallon jug of milk underneath them? A gallon of milk weighs 10 lbs. All of the battery-powered drones I have ever seen were made of foam and carbon-fiber and they weighed a pound or two at the most. OK, multiply that by a factor of 10, put a heavy duty lithium ion battery in it, and you have a 10 lb. drone. Maybe that drone can fly for some distance like you say, but when you hang 10 pounds of cargo from it you have just doubled its weight. This would be the functional equivalent of putting 2500 lbs of lead in the trunk of an economy car, although with a drone it would even be worse because of the aerodynamic drag of the cargo plus any headwinds it might encounter. Its not going to work. Lithium-ion batteries aren't even going to get us close to the power-to-weight ratio we need to make drone deliveries a viable option.

I'm just saying, I don't think it is as far fetched as you make it out to be. I actually think the propulsion issue is one of the smaller issues drones face. Certification, cost, and operators are the bigger issue personally.

 

[sailfish]

The only practical implementation of a truck mounted drone that I could see would be a small one that the DRIVER controlled to drop something off at a house down a long, bad driveway or lane that the truck could not access.

 

[Deemster]

Fuelcell. The new battery. Once graphene can produced in a more practical material, batteries will be obsolete.

 

[3 done 3 to go]

Can we refuse to use it? It is taking work away from me. A warning letter for not using a drone. No way

 

[Future]

My center manager just informed me that these will be our helpers for peak this year...


View attachment 53946

 

[Indecisi0n]

Can I use it to drop my pee bottles on people?

 

[FrigidFTSup]

The only practical implementation of a truck mounted drone that I could see would be a small one that the DRIVER controlled to drop something off at a house down a long, bad driveway or lane that the truck could not access.

A drone the size that would be required would almost certainly need a commercial pilot's license.

 

[Nike]

Half our fleet are still manual drive and the company wants to buy drones? The bigger issue is UPS bleeding money on ways to circumvent the driver when no other solid way currently exists.


Sent using BrownCafe App

 

[Bottom rung]

But how much revenue do we get from a lightweight residential package?

There is no currently foreseeable battery technology that will allow a drone to haul a cost-effective amount of weight a cost-effective distance. Yes, in theory at least we have drones that could haul an envelope to a customers doorstep a few miles away (assuming ideal weather conditions, no wind etc.) but will the cost of the drone itself, the supporting infrastructure and the pilot to remotely fly it allow us to make more of a profit on that envelope than we are currently earning by having a driver deliver it?

I actually hope that drones can make deliveries one day. Why? Because the battery technology that would make it possible will transform society as we know it. It would mean an end to poverty, an end to world hunger, an end to warfare and an end to our addiction to fossil fuels. The internal combustion and jet engines would be obsolete, and we would have battery-powered cars that could drive for 500 miles with a battery the size and weight of a gallon of milk.

This isn't about the FAA. This isn't about putting drone docks on the roof of our trucks, or customers being OK with drones dropping packages on their porch. Those are the easy problems to solve. This is about the power-to-weight ratio of current and foreseeable battery technology. We aren't even close to figuring that part out yet, and when we finally do it will quite literally be the dawn of a new age for humanity.

Battery technology will never replace fossil fuels. the powers that be (oil $) will never let it happen. Much less end hunger or warfare. War and oil. The two fastest ways to get rich... That's like actually believing that cancer will be cured someday.

 

[Deemster]

Battery technology will never replace fossil fuels. the powers that be (oil $) will never let it happen. Much less end hunger or warfare. War and oil. The two fastest ways to get rich... That's like actually believing that cancer will be cured someday.

There are cures to multiple forms of cancer. Other than that you are pretty much on point.

The military industrial complex has too large a hold on too stupid a people to let any of that revenue degenerate. Not until things look very bleak will any of that change. They will rape steal and pillage any and all and justify it (in some unbelievable ways) to their consumers

 

[I Am Jacks Damaged Box]

An algorithm system? That's like saying wet water. An algorithm is a system. It's a systematic procedure/formula/set of instructions. (If this, then do that, else that, etc). It's a good thing we unintelligent drivers have intelligent trolls like you around. Haterade is thataway----->

 

[soberups]

Battery technology will never replace fossil fuels. the powers that be (oil $) will never let it happen. Much less end hunger or warfare. War and oil. The two fastest ways to get rich... That's like actually believing that cancer will be cured someday.

There is a finite amount of recoverable fossil fuels and once they are gone they are gone forever. No anount of power or wealth can change that fact. The day will come when our only source of power will be the sun and the wind and other renewable forms of energy, and batteries will be a big part of storing that energy.

 

[1BROWNWRENCH]

At the current rate of progress, everyone should prepare for a lower standard of living.

 

[DriveInDriveOut]

There is a finite amount of recoverable fossil fuels and once they are gone they are gone forever. No anount of power or wealth can change that fact. The day will come when our only source of power will be the sun and the wind and other renewable forms of energy, and batteries will be a big part of storing that energy.

The amount of fossil fuels left is debatable I'm not even gonna touch that one.
The bigger issue in the not too distant future is the rare minerals we need to produce electronics, like the ones that control all those renewable sources of power you're talking about. People like to talk about war in the middle east being about oil, no one mentions that there's trillions of dollars worth of rare minerals underneath Afghanistan alone. If my tin foil hat wasn't in the dishwasher at the moment....

Anyways, anyone notice how freakin loud the drone in that video was?

 

[TooTechie]

What? A swallow carrying a coconut?

It could grip it by the husk!

 

[OLDMAN3]

African swallow.

 

[rod]

There is a finite amount of recoverable fossil fuels and once they are gone they are gone forever. No anount of power or wealth can change that fact. The day will come when our only source of power will be the sun and the wind and other renewable forms of energy, and batteries will be a big part of storing that energy.

About 14 years ago I toured the coal fired power plant in North Dakota which produces the electricity I use. (It used to be cheap). The tour guide said there is enough coal in ND to last at least 400 years at the rate they were using it. I say lets use it and continue to make coal energy more green. They have come a LONG way.