Like a letter or package that was thought to be lost but finally gets delivered, and after more than 10 years of planning, deliberation and infighting, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has begun to issue its new electric Next Generation Delivery Vehicle to letter carriers.

The NGDVs are built by Oshkosh Defense, which won the contract to make the vehicles in 2021. They are being manufactured at a factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and 75% of them will be battery-electric vehicles.

“Our vast experience in delivering vehicles that excel in the most demanding conditions positions us to provide reliability, safety and maintainability for decades ahead,” said Tim Block, President of Oshkosh Defense.

To say the NGDV stands out visually would be a considerable understatement. The vehicle’s design includes a giant windshield and a low-slung hood, the latter of which was designed to allow the driver—regardless of height—to see the road, giving it the appearance of one of those goofy mid-to-late 20th century baseball- or baseball cap-shaped bullpen carts.

But letter carriers aren’t making fun of the vehicle or its looks.

The trucks have a range of 70 miles, more than sufficient for the daily average of 12 to 15 miles covered by a typical urban letter carrier. Unlike the vehicles they are replacing—the Grumman Long Life Vehicle, which was the first city letter carrier vehicle for which the USPS developed specifications versus buying off the shelf—they have air conditioning, a feature that was roundly applauded by the half dozen anonymous mail carriers who provided feedback on the vehicle.

The new vehicles also have more space for packages, a nod to the Amazonification that the postal service has undergone, as letter carriers today deliver far more packages and far fewer letters and magazines than they did during the 20th century.

While the Grumman trucks had to be unloaded from the rear, which resulted in a few injuries and the occasional death when they were hit by oncoming vehicles, the new trucks have the cargo door on one side, allowing packages to be unloaded directly onto the curb.

Letter carriers participated in the process of designing the specifications for the new truck, which began in 2014. Some of their suggestions—including non-skid surfaces, lights on the doorsteps and a third sun visor for the windshield—were incorporated into the final design. The trucks also have the same basic safety features that new autos today feature, such as airbags and driver-assistance technologies such as automatic emergency braking and a collision-avoidance system.

One letter carrier, Larry, who drives a battery-electric hybrid to work in New York City from Suffolk County using the HOV lane, predicted to a reporter that the appearance of the new electric trucks on streets will prompt the installation of charging stations that local employees can use as well, which was recommended by the General Accounting Office in 2023. The chargers, he said, would make it easier for him to purchase an EV for himself for his commute.

It is clear that the NGDVs will enable postal couriers to serve with greater fidelity, perhaps one day reaching the high aspirational standard of the Persian mounted postal couriers Herodotus described in Book 8, Paragraph 98 of “The Persian Wars,” who “…are stopped neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed.”

Source: Oshkosh Defense