From our collaborating partner “Living on Earth,” public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview with car expert Jim Motavalli, who writes about green transportation for Autoweek and Barron’s.
As Catholics around the world turn their eyes to the Vatican before the celebration of the 2025 Jubilee begins on December 24, 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 rollout 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 1980s, 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.
Car expert Jim Motavalli writes about green transportation for Autoweek and Barron’s. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
AYNSLEY O’NEILL: The Vatican has this new electric popemobile. What is your perspective on the Vatican taking a step like this towards sustainability?
MOTAVALLI: They’ve said they want all the Vatican fleet to be electric by 2030; 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. In England, they’re talking about doing it by 2030. So 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. But this one is a Mercedes-Benz and probably cost millions to make, so…
O’NEILL: We are talking about Europe, but there’s a little bit of this going on in the U.S., too. We are also looking at these Postal Service “duck cars,” which have a sort of a tall head and flat bill, like a duck. 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, and also that move from the U.S. Postal Service?
MOTAVALLI: This has been a long time coming. 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: As I was looking into them, figuring out why that design was so weird, it’s because 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. 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 U.S., and they’re very similar to the Popemobile, though they have a platform for the dignitary to stand up and acknowledge the crowds.
O’NEILL: 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. To what extent do you think that these statements are showing a trend toward a tipping point for EV acceptance?
MOTAVALLI: I think it’s helping. 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 yet. So the adoption rate is still climbing.
There are parts of the world where not having an EV is novel, and one of them is Norway, where 95 percent of new car sales are EVs. Iceland is another country that’s nearing 90 percent EV adoption.
In the U.S., we’re around 10 percent now, but 10 percent is better than 7 percent is better than 6 percent, which was where we were a few years ago. 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. 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. There are 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: For those 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 a reason for that—but 80 percent of your charging is going to be at home. If you have a good situation at home, if you have an EV charger, if you have a garage, it’s really helpful. Even if there’s 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. At one of the Electrify America public charging networks I used when I was driving up the coast, I paid 57 cents a kilowatt hour. And that’s really high. You 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. There’s a lot of 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.
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