It’s been a long and winding road for the Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV) designed and built by Oshkosh Defense that will be used by the United States Postal Service (USPS) to replace its ages-old fleet of Grumman Long Life Vehicles (LLV). It’s been roughly three years since the Post Office made that particular announcement, in fact, and back in May 2023, the program hit another snag that prompted a delay in deliveries until this past June. Now, that process has finally begun, and it seems as if these Ford-powered models are already endearing themselves to mail carriers.
Though pretty much everyone admits that they look rather odd – “You can tell that (the designers) didn’t have appearance in mind,” postal worker Avis Stonum told the Associated Press – USPS drivers are otherwise raving about the new model. The vehicle’s high roofline enables taller workers to stand up inside, plus they’re also equipped with modern amenities the LLV lacked – things like air conditioning, airbags, 360-degree cameras, blind-spot monitoring, collision sensors, and anti-lock brakes.
For now at least, most of the NGDV models hitting USPS locations utilize a 2.0L I-4 gas engine from Ford, though eventually, the Post Office plans to transition to an all-electric lineup, with a goal of reaching a 75 percent electrified mix by 2026. To help bridge that gap, USPS also recently purchased a substantial 9,000 all-electric Ford E-Transit vans from the automaker.
USPS is using those E-Transit vans at locations such as its South Atlanta Sorting and Delivery Center (S&DC) as what it calls “commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) delivery vehicles,” which have been deployed at various locations around the U.S. To support this expansion, the post office plans to convert roughly 400 selected sites into S&DCs nationwide, each of which will serve as a local hub to deploy EVs along local carrier routes. As of January 2024, the Postal Service had opened 29 S&DCs across the U.S.
Comments
My Dad was a mail carrier in the 1970s and drove the right hand Jeep. But if he were alive today, he would love driving these new vehicles, especially the e-Transit.
The transitory to 75% EVs by 2026 may prove to be a fatal mistake. CLEARLY hydrids are the conduit to the transition.
Stash Pawlinski September 12, 2024 at 10:59 PM
The transition to 75% EVs by 2026 may prove to be a fatal mistake. CLEARLY hydrids are the conduit to the transition.
Be prepared for a massive increase in maintenance, compared to the Grummans. And is there an uglier thing?
Let’s just address the elephant in the room. We are NO where near reaching those kind of EV levels. We are at a decade and a new power grid away.
Being a retired letter carrier, and having used the Jeep & GM LLV version for many years, I fully believe the electric vehicle would be great on a park & loop route as most trucks don’t go more than 15 miles a day. The drive routes go closer to 25- 30 miles a day, so the hybrid version would probably be a better pick, just to make sure the range isn’t exceeded and end up with a dead battery somewhere on the route.
Ugly is in the eye of the beholder, efficiency is what counts & If the carrier can stand up & also be comfortable driving, WHO CARES HOW IT LOOKS!!!
All things considered, the new NGDV is basically a heavily modified Ford Transit. Much of the interior is a direct carry over from the current Transit along with some exterior components too. The NGDV also uses the Ecoboost 2.0 4-cylinder for the gas version along with a Ford based 8F35 8-speed transverse transmission. The electric variant is powered by a Bosch electric motor. Either way you look at it, this is a big win for Ford. The NGDV is also their second official mail truck offering since the 2000s era Ford Explorer based Utilimaster FFV, many of which, like the old GM based Grumman LLVs, are still in use today.