The United States Postal Service (USPS) signed a massive deal with Oshkosh Defense roughly three years ago, a move slated to result in a total replacement of the agency’s Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV) fleet with the brand new Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV), which contains a host of components from Ford – including its gas powertrain for ICE variants. However, USPS is also slated to purchase a number of all-electric versions of the NGDV and E-Transit in the coming years, and now, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is defending that particular decision amid recent criticism.
According to Reuters, DeJoy attended a U.S. House hearing recently and defended the decision to electrify the USPS fleet in the coming years, pointing out that the move will have “operational cost benefits” for the Post Office. USPS received $3 billion from Congress last year that’s slated to fund the purchase of EVs and charging infrastructure, and it plans to buy around 66,000 such vehicles by 2028. In 2024, USPS purchased 28,000 vehicles, of which 22,000 were ICE models, but DeJoy expects to achieve a 50:50 mix of ICE and EV purchases soon.
As Ford Authority recently reported, USPS ordered around 5,000 Ford E-Transit vans, but has only received a fraction of them thus far. This is also true of the NGDV, which USPS is slated to purchase many more of in the coming years at a cost of around $10 billion. However, as of this month, the Postal Service has only taken delivery of 93 units, versus the 3,000 that it had previously expected to have in its fleet by now.
In the meantime, the future of the all-electric version of the NGDV remains a bit murky amid reports that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump is considering terminating the existing contract with Oshkosh and Ford. Regardless, Blue Oval CEO Jim Farley recently stated that he isn’t concerned about any potential changes to policy that Trump may implement regarding the automotive industry as a whole.
Comments
The USPS needs these EVs. The present fleet is old and obsolete, costing thousands per vehicle just to keep them running. The carrier job is stopping at every mailbox to deliver and pickup mail which makes the EV tbe perfect vehicle for this type of job.
We’re just going to eliminate the postal services and allow the much superior private-sector fill the void.
You’ll be the first to complain when private sector employees exercise their right to strike. Postal Service employees are not allowed to strike.
No not really
Considering the so-called “Long Life Vehicle” was introduced nearly four decades ago, something MUST be done. Our mail system is slow enough and unreliable enough as it is without having to tinker with technology that was old when the LLV was introduced (the chassis of an LLV is a Chevy S-10 Blazer with the hoary old Pontiac Iron Duke four-cylinder engine…)
That “something” should be the elimination of the post office.
I would suggest that this move will be reversed on or after January 20!!
Hopefully Trump is lying about that too. It would be an abysmally stupid idea. Postal delivery is the poster child for EVs.
I agree and taxpayer dollars could best be used elsewhere within the Postal Service. The losses reported year to year does not justify wasteful use of more of our money. The concept is interesting built ICE vehicles are better suited for a number of reasons.
The Postal Service does not receive taxpayer dollars, they rely on the sale of their products and services. USPS told the Biden administration they cannot afford the EVs, so Biden gave them the money to buy the EVs. It won’t bother me if this contract is cancelled.
An EV may be a good fit for a city carrier that can park and walk the majority of a route but would be terrible for most rural routes. Some carriers drive over 150 miles a day or can be on the route for six plus hours a day. Constantly shutting off the vehicle and restarting every time they need to take an article up the door of the customer will drain the batteries ever faster. My route gets lots of Amazon parcels and I easily restart my vehicle 50- 100 times a day. Also constantly running flashing lights and a heater or AC will leave even less juice for the engine. Who is responsible to recharge the EV in the middle of the route if needed? Thanks but no thanks.
Donald will listen to what ever Elon says.