Ford Delivering Engines for New USPS Vehicles
Photo: Oshkosh Defense
Ford will supply engines and transmissions for the U.S. Postal Service’s Next Generation Delivery Vehicle. Manufacturer Oshkosh Defense announced that the USPS NGDV will enter production in summer 2023 at a dedicated facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
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In February, Oshkosh Defense — a subsidiary of Oshkosh Corp. with seemingly no relationship to OshKosh B’Gosh — won a more than $6 billion contract to build the next-generation delivery vehicle for the Postal Service. The deal calls for between 50,000 and 165,000 vehicles over 10 years, which will create 1,000 direct jobs in Spartanburg as well as jobs along Oshkosh’s supply chain.
Ford supplying parts for electric USPS delivery vehicles
Oshkosh will build NGDVs powered by traditional internal combustion engines as well as battery electric vehicles with “the option of producing any combination of models.” Oshkosh Defense President John Bryant has also suggested that ICE vehicles could be retrofitted with BEV powertrains.
Oshkosh Defense Director of Global Marketing and Communications Alexandra Hittle told The Detroit Free Press that Ford Component Sales will also provide components for the BEVs, including powertrain, suspension, and interior components.
“Ford Component Sales is proud to provide Oshkosh Defense with key parts for both the battery-electric and internal combustion engine versions of the U.S. Postal Service’s Next Generation Delivery Vehicle, including the engine and transmission which will be built in Michigan, plus suspensions and other components to help the USPS continue to deliver for the American people for years to come,” said Doug Chase, Ford Component Sales’ director of sales.
New USPS NGDV is ‘purpose-built’
Photo: MercurySable99 via CC 4.0
The Postal Service awarded a 10-year contract to build new fleet vehicles to Oshkosh Defense in February following a nearly six-year bidding period. Over that time, Oshkosh and Ford had also partnered up to pitch a prototype based on the Transit. However, Bryant told Reuters in February that the bid-winning USPS NGDV “is not a Ford Transit … but is a purpose-built vehicle.”
USPS is long overdue for an upgrade to its fleet as the current Grumman Long Life Vehicle model averages about 30 years of service. The aging LLVs can require as much as $5,000 per year in maintenance and return a paltry 10 mpg on average.
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Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.