Move over Dispatcher Jeep and step aside Grumman LLV—The United States Post Office is getting itself an all-new ride.
The USPS just announced that it’s awarded a 10-year contract to Oshkosh, Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense to build a new mail truck. It’s the latest chapter in the Post Office’s storied history of mail delivery vehicles.
Dubbed simply the “Next Generation Delivery Vehicle,” or NGDV if you’re short on time, this new truck is designed specifically for the USPS. It, of course, is right-hand drive, and boasts a ton of updates from its predecessor, the venerable (yet rapidly aging) Grumman LLV.
For starters, it has air conditioning and heating, and an improved cabin arrangement to make the NGDV more comfortable. It’ll also pack-in some slick electronic gizmos, including 360-degree cameras, traction control, and front/rear crash avoidance systems. Interior space optimization will increase the NGDV’s cargo capabilities too.
But the most interesting feature is perhaps under the hood, where the USPS says the NGDV can be equipped with either a fuel-efficient internal combustion engine or an electric motor. Yep, in one configuration, the NGDV is going to be an electric vehicle.
More importantly, Oshkosh Defense says the NGDV is designed to be easily retrofitted with newer powertrains as they develop—and given how fast the automotive technology sector moves nowadays, powertrain flexibility is probably a really good idea.
The current Post Office fleet tops 230,000 vehicles, with many of those in service for 30+ years. This new contract promises to update that fleet with 50,000 to 165,000 NGDVs in the next ten years.
The USPS says the first of those new NGDVs should be hitting neighborhoods in 2023.
USPS is a failed govt org. spending the millions on this fleet is more wasteful spending. Privatize the mail!!!
I disagree. At least the post office can find my address. FedEx and UPS seem to have A LOT of trouble doing that! I’m not hard to find since my shop has a good size sign (with name AND address) right out front and it’s on a major road.
You have no idea how bad that would be for us all. You pay the same price to mail a letter to Alaska as you do the house next door. Privatize USPS and you’ll pay for the distance your letter travels. Also, rates now are decided by a board whereas private companies can raise the prices anytime they feel like it!
If you were in my shoes you would not say the new fleet is wasteful spending. My LLV has been in the shop 4 times in 2 months. and it needs to go back in again due to some problem with the motor. We have NO heat in the winter and get heat exhaustion every summer. Come sit in one with us one day and maybe that will give you a taste of what we deal with everyday.
[…] Update! It looks the Post Office found its next mail truck! […]
I heard the “fuel-efficient internal combustion engine” gets under 9 MPG. They should just make them all electric and save a lot of maintenance costs.