Last year, the United States Postal Office (USPS) awarded Oshkosh Defense a $6 billion dollar contract to replace the decades-old Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV) with a next-generation, Ford-powered mail carrier, though that decision has been mired in controversy ever since, mostly due to the Post Office’s decision to only purchase a small percentage of all-electric mail carriers. That decision has drawn the ire of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and various lawmakers, though USPS is moving forward regardless, placing its very first order for the next-gen carrier back in March and considering additional orders as well. Now, the Postal Service has announced that it will in fact purchase more full-electric next-gen mail carriers than previous planned.
Originally, USPS planned on starting out with a 10 percent mix of EVs in its Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) fleet, though of its initial order of 50,000 vehicles, a total of 10,019 units – or around 20 percent – will consist of EVs. The Post Office previously stated that if it could secure the funds necessary to buy more EVs it would, and that appears to be the case now, as the government agency has announced that it will do precisely that.
Now, USPS expects that at least 50 percent of its its newly-ordered NGDVs will consist of all-electric models, a significant increase from prior expectations as it aims to obtain a total of 165,000 new vehicles over the next decade. The Post Office expects to also purchase 34,500 commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) vehicles over the next two years in an attempt to speed up the conversion of its ages-old fleet to more modern vehicles.
In total, of the 84,500 NGDV and COTS vehicles it plans to purchase in the next wave, the Postal Service expects to have a mix of at least 40 percent all-electric models, with the very first NGDVs scheduled to start servicing postal routes in late 2023.
We’ll have more on the next-gen postal delivery vehicle soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for non-stop Ford news coverage.
Comments
Are any of these actually in service yet? I have a bad feeling about these so don’t be surprised if you see more off the shelf mini and full sized vans being placed in service for the time being.
Oh look. Ford made a deal with the Government to push EVs, and the Government is rewarding them with our tax dollars in return. Yup, our family is joining the Nationwide boycott against Ford.
EVs for mail delivery make sense since delivery vehicles are local with much stop and go. Maintained costs will be lower in both the short and long run.
If vehicles need to be replaced due to age, why not EVs?
It would be deliveed by horse an buggy supplanted by bicycle s…..