Much ado has been made about the fact that the United States Postal Service (USPS) recently decided to replace its aging fleet of delivery vehicles with a brand-new, next-generation model from Oshkosh Defense. Though some of those vehicles will feature all-electric power, others will be equipped with a gas Ford engine, though that won’t be the only future USPS mail carrier. In fact, the post office already employs a handful of Transit Connects, and as Ford Authority reported last December, at least one “off-the-shelf” Ford E-Transit. Now, USPS has announced that it will indeed expand its EV fleet with the purchase of 9,250 additional E-Transit vans.
This order helps further the post office’s goal of going all-electric by purchasing vehicles that are already in production, as each of its E-Transit vans will remain left-hand drive in terms of configuration. To support those vans, the agency will also install 14,000 chargers at various locations around the U.S., all of which is part of a $9.6 billion dollar investment in overhauling its entire fleet in the coming years.
The first batch of USPS E-Transit vans is expected to arrive this December, but they will soon be joined by a large number of Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV). Production of the replacement for the Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV) is expected to ramp up over the next five years, helping to electrify 75 percent of the USPS fleet before it stops purchasing ICE vehicles altogether by 2026.
“We are moving forward with our plans to simultaneously improve our service, reduce our cost, grow our revenue, and improve the working environment for our employees. Electrification of our vehicle fleet is now an important component of these initiatives,” said Louis DeJoy, Postmaster General. “We have developed a strategy that mitigates both cost and risk of deployment – which enable execution on this initiative to begin now. I again want to thank the Administration officials and members of Congress who have assisted us in this initiative. Each has shown genuine understanding that our movement toward electrification must be thoughtful and deliberate, must appropriately manage risk, and must be consistent with our primary delivery mission for the American people.”
We’ll have more on the E-Transit soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford Transit news and non-stop Ford news coverage.
Comments
Too bad they didn’t think of that before they went ahead with that quagmire with that purpose built van that appears to be a joke befoe the first one is even in service.
Good move.
To the extent that it makes sense (door window height etc), USPS should ask congress for an exemption allowing it to import European RHD models.
Why give Europen mfgs access? The US has a 10% tariff on Euro coming into the US. Euro has a 25% tariff on US autos going into Europe. That is not equitable.
Want to create US jobs, especially mfg jobs? Just mandate when tax payer money is being spent, it should be spent HERE.
Be it cars, trucks, farm equipment or photo copiers.
Michael. You hit the NAIL right on the HEAD!!! Keep our MONEY right here in the USA. We been doling it out to Foreign Countries way too Long. KEEP our $$$$ Here in the USA!
Exactly. We have done everything possible to chase jobs away over the years. If we built more things here, we wouldn’t have to worry so much about overseas supply chains. I guess if it makes sense don’t do it.
I’m looking at it from the standpoint that Ford would be unlikely to tool or disrupt production to make super small quantity RHD Transits in the USA.
A goodly number of RHD transits could replace the future custom USPS vehicle.
A RHD transit would be cheaper than the custom vehicle.
I don’t think RHD transits could replace the custom vehicle entirely because of issues with ingress/egress, door config and mailbox height.
It’s About TIME the USPS get’s some newer equipment. The Need it Badly here in California anyway. Saw a Driver Trying to get the Junk Pile Moving the other day, Left a Puddle of TRANNY Fluid behind and Finally got it to Move. I don’t know if he made it to the Yard 1 MILE down the road. They have Nothing but JUNK that they are driving now.
Thank the GOP for the decrepit state of those vehicles as well as almost all public infrastructure in the USA.
Glad the democrats found a way to get so many urgently needed things fixed.
President Trump was pushing harder than any POTUS since President Reagan to get more products to be built here. But no POTUS can act alone. State and local leaders have to do things to attract business and create jobs. What has the USPS been doing all of these many years to maintain their equipment thru several presidential administrations? UPS is a private company and they manage to keep their trucks rolling. This new van is already raising red flags when the solution is just to buy off the shelf vans. They already do.
Wow; actual good EV news. THIS is the perfect application!