The United States Postal Service announced this week that it is updating its vehicle fleet. The design of the vehicle is getting attention.
Oshkosh Defense beat out Ohio-based Workhorse for the $482 million contract. USPS says that Oshkosh will build 50,000 to 160,000 of the new, right-hand-drive vehicles for mail and parcel delivery. Oshkosh Defense is still finalizing the production design of the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV).
It’s already getting compared to Disney’s Cars and Sony’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, giving USPS an unlikely meme-worthy moment in the sun.
The resemblance between the new USPS trucks and the van from cloudy with a chance of meatballs is UNCANNY ? pic.twitter.com/7YEr694aiI
— Tex (@kidcalledcry) February 25, 2021
According to USPS, the vehicles are equipped with either fuel-efficient gas engines or battery-electric powertrains. They can be retrofitted to keep pace with advances in electric vehicle technologies. The initial investment includes plant tooling and build-out for the US manufacturing facility where final vehicle assembly will occur.
The contract is the first part of a multi-billion-dollar effort to replace the Postal Service’s delivery vehicle fleet. The Postal Service fleet has more than 230,000 vehicles. Approximately 190,000 deliver mail six, and often seven, days a week in every U.S. community. The NGDV will replace and expand the current delivery fleet, which includes many vehicles that have been in service for 30 years.
The first NGDVs are estimated to appear on carrier routes in 2023.
