this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2024
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[Dormant] Electric Vehicles

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USPS' long-awaited new mail truck makes its debut to rave reviews from carriers (apnews.com)
submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
82 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The Postal Service’s new delivery vehicles aren’t going to win a beauty contest. They’re tall and ungainly. The windshields are vast. Their hoods resemble a duck bill. Their bumpers are enormous.

“You can tell that (the designers) didn’t have appearance in mind,” postal worker Avis Stonum said.

Odd appearance aside, the first handful of Next Generation Delivery Vehicles that rolled onto postal routes in August in Athens are getting rave reviews from letter carriers accustomed to cantankerous older vehicles that lack modern safety features and are prone to breaking down — and even catching fire.

Within a few years of the initial rollout, the fleet will have expanded to 60,000, most of them electric models, serving as the Postal Service’s primary delivery truck from Maine to Hawaii.

Once fully deployed, they’ll represent one of the most visible signs of the agency’s 10-year, $40 billion transformation led by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who’s also renovating aging facilities, overhauling the processing and transportation network, and instituting other changes.

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[–] [email protected] -4 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Did it have to be so ugly?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Function over form.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

To me, maximum function is maximum beauty.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Function has a form all its own

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Penis

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Ugly in an iconic way.
Clearly designed for practicality.
They look great to drive with all that visibility.

On the other hand the electric version just looks like a disappointing van.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I thought the electric version looked exactly the same

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Good use of angled armor on the front glacis, so you don't have to show the side of your hull to effectively bounce incoming shells.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I understood that reference.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

I see they chose to keep the 1970s style 5mph bumpers.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Oh! That's better.
One of the images had a van looking one, the caption said was the electric.

I thinks it's the back one in your image.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

I was ready to say no, that's just Ford Transit but couldn't find conclusive evidence to confirm the minute body lines match a Ford and not a Mercedes Sprinter (my local variant). I went for one last attempt and searched "ford transit usps" and what do you know, we're both right to some degree. The back vehicle is an electric Ford Transit and the USPS has ordered over 9,000 units. It's not the "electric version" but rather a competitor to the Oshkosh lineup, which is the front truck. The Oshkosh NGDV is available as both gas and battery-electric.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

The electric Canoo models look a million times better.

These gas ones are what you get when a defense contractor gets to build highway vehicles. I'm pretty sure these things are well into the 6 figures per vehicle which seems pretty excessive for what it is.

[–] Prewash_Required 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The current LLVs are made by Grumman and the new ones are made by OshKosh, so defense contractors have been building the postal delivery trucks for the last 40 years.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Defense contractors specialize in reading and meeting bid spec and not a millimeter more.

[–] Prewash_Required 3 points 3 months ago

100%. If they happen to build a working car, plane, tank, etc. well that's a bonus.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Prettier, sure. But less practical, functionally.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

The old Grumman LLV's are also ugly as hell. We just got used to them over the decades.

The same thing will happen with these eventually.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

No it didn't. But you know, bribes are bribes. Royal Mail van

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

That's really cute but isn't the driver on the wrong side for the UK? One of the things about the American Mail vehicles is the driver doesn't need to leave the seat to deliver letter mail.