Josh Hendrickson
The current United States Postal Service mail truck fleet is ancient. Older than some of the people driving the vehicles. It’s long past due for an upgrade with some basics like air conditioning and a clock, and thankfully USPS just announced OshKosh Defense will make the next mail truck. And among its many upgrades is the option for a fully electric vehicle.
If you live in the United States, you’re probably familiar with the now iconic boxy Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV) used for the current mail trucks. They’re notoriously bad for many reasons—they don’t do well in snow, get terrible gas mileage, and have the slight issue of spontaneously catching fire. Not to mention lacking basics like air conditioning or even a clock.
The new proposed mail truck from OshKosh Defense, dubbed “Next Generation Delivery Vehicles,” will fix all that, in theory anyway. It can either use a traditional ICE engine or an electric drivetrain to go truly modern. Versions that due use an electric drivetrain will support new EV tech as it becomes available too.
The lowered hood and large windshield should drivers see pedestrians and other road obstacles, as will the new 360-degree cameras that power a front and rear collision warning system. Drivers will likely appreciate the inclusion of A/C and heat, though maybe not the added cargo space to fit that many packages into the run.
The design still isn’t final, but it’s close. And OshKosh Defense will produce between 50,000 and 165,000 vehicles over the next ten years. It’s not clear how many will use gas and how many will be electric. Currently, USPS has 140,000 LLVs in the workforce, so we’ll still see them for years to come.
