The United States Postal Service (USPS) is in the midst of replacing its old, outdated fleet of Grumman Long Life Vehicles with next-generation delivery vehicles built by Oshkosh Defense, many – if not all – of which will utilize Ford powertrains in their construction. USPS placed its first order for these new vehicles back in March, but has since considered ordering even more as it aims to secure a mix of ICE and all-electric models. In the meantime, a handful of Ford Transit Connect vans are already in service with the Post Office, but the mail delivery service has plans to buy even more next-gen Ford-powered Oshkosh models, too.
Today, USPS announced that it will acquire at least 66,000 all-electric delivery vehicles as part of its 106,000 vehicle acquisition plan for deliveries between now and 2028, which will replace its outgoing fleet of 220,000 Grumman LLVs, giving mail carriers luxuries such as air conditioning and advanced safety technology. At least 75 percent of that 66k order will be EVs, while 21,000 additional commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) vehicles are also expected to be battery electric, depending on market availability and operational feasibility.
This ramp up is being made possible by $3 billion in congressional funding appropriated under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), though the Post Office plans to remain flexible in its plans moving forward as conditions and economic conditions inevitably continue to change.
“The $3 billion provided by Congress has significantly reduced the risk associated with accelerating the implementation of a nationwide infrastructure necessary to electrify our delivery fleet,” said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. “While most of the electric vehicle funding will continue to come from Postal Service revenues, we are grateful for the confidence that Congress and the Administration have placed in us to build and acquire what has the potential to become the largest electric vehicle fleet in the nation.”
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
The smart thing would be to roll this out in one geography, and then expand it, and then go national. Nobody ever accused the federal government of being smart–and for good reason.
What’s so bad about that plan?
There are current vehicles in various states of decrepitude distributed throughout the country.
Your plan would require moving old vehicles around the country.
This plan would see the worst of the current fleet replaced with new vehicles.
Your plan isn’t really very smart but I guess it serves as the desired launching pad for your anti government blah blah.
The ICE vehicles should mostly be replaced with ICE vehicles which, as you know, was the plan in the first place. And, then, the political types with union thug backgrounds stepped in and said the USPS “needs” to buy EVs and, suddenly, the USPS decides to go all-in on EVs.
Dems need to keep the money laundering scheme going.
Your “should” is not the should of logic or sense. There is no law of nature that dictates ICE vehicles should be replaced like for like.
While some rural route carriers have reported 200 miles in a day, they also noted that was unusual. Most postal routes are well under 50 miles a day.
No less than the arch conservative Postal Commissioner thinks a greater EV take rate is a good idea. From Vox:
“”But it’s not the environmental bona fides of EVs that won over Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. “The biggest thing was financial ability and operational suitability,” he told reporters outside the US Postal Service headquarters in Washington, DC.””
And if it’s present day thuggery that tipped the scale, how come full commercial enterprises have been both funding EV delivery van development, with equity purchases, as well as ordering scads of them?
Amazon is said to be a pretty well run outfit and they wouldn’t spend dime one to be a first mover here if it didn’t pay back quickly.
And as for our USPS, the majority of routes aren’t all that different from Amazon, so Amazon’s expectations of a win here are a pretty good proxy of what we should expect the USPS to achieve.
As for the rest of your conservative codswallop, that’s a whole army of strawmen, and a lot even for you Mr. Dystopia, yet none of it is worth losing more time refuting.
Im guessing curb appeal and design were not in the requirement list from USPS?
This story kinda makes a bit of my case for Ford becoming a ‘supply manufacturer’ to/for existing vehicle builders. The future Ford Company could just as well build Jeep Cherokees and Hyundai’s around the world and not concern themselves with their own vehicle offerings. Regardless of how one feels about this idea, the fact remains that Ford could do much better by not trying to design/build its own branded vehicles in an increasingly competitive market place. Mr. Farley has Ford well positioned for this new/different role as a global supply chain manufacturer to existing brands and not a car/SUV company per se.
That’s ignorant nonsense.
There’s a whole lot of value added work that disappears when you start building to somebody else’s print.
Bring a contract manufacturer can end you if you become dependent upon an OEM who underperforms; this is especially true in the car biz.
Branding and owning your IP stack is where the profit is made.
The alternative of Ford outsourcing production to a supplier like Apple does could increase margin but it would involve offshoring which would give a big backlash black eye.
Also Ford has the production part of its business in pretty good shape potential wise (once the Q wrinkles are ironed out by moving to updated platforms.)
Gota disagree with you RWFA. Ford is a business first and foremost and they are shrinking as we speak. Mr. Farley knows where the marbles are in the next generation of vehicle builders…. and sadly it does not include Ford as you romantically refer to them as. Your tendency to scorn everyone who is not in agreement with you speaks volumes to the weakness of your position. Things are changing and for Ford, in a very big way. Do you really think Ford or the traditional big 3 are still the dominant players? NOT likely! My money is on Ford, just for different reasons than you hold out for. We will see.