Thousands of deliverers from the United States National Postal Service can finally look forward to a new delivery van. The United States Postal Service (USPS) presents its new delivery van, a car that replaces the archaic but now almost legendary Grumman LLV.
Since 1987, the Grumman LLV has been the delivery van with which the United States Postal Service delivered its letters and packages. The angular workhorse, which was also used by Canada’s national postal service, turned out to have a long life. Not surprising, when you consider that the letters ‘LLV’ in the name of the bus stand for Long Life Vehicle. Although the last copy of the Grumman LLV left the production line in 1994, the remarkably simple-looking but spacious orderers still drive around. The United States Postal Service has now really planned a successor to the Grumman LLV.
At least, not the United States Postal Service itself, but the company Oshkosh Defense will produce the now ‘Next Generation Delivery Vehicle’ (NGDV). Oshkosh Defense, which also developed the car itself, will be awarded a ten-year contract and will produce 50,000 to 165,000 units of the new purchaser. USPS will transfer some € 397 million to Oshkosh Defense.
The new USPS ‘mailbox’ to be built by Oshkosh Defense and somewhat sullenly into the world gets, according to its creators “[…] efficient combustion engines or electric powertrains. ”Good news: the car can be easily modernized, according to USPS, powertrains can be changed at a later stage. More modernity comes in the form of air conditioning, a 360-degree camera, traction control, airbags, an emergency braking system and things like front and rear collision avoidance. The new company cars must be a lot more spacious than the Grumman’s they replace.
Grumman LLV
The Grumman’s LLV, still in service, are 4.46 meters long and have a wheelbase of 2.55 meters. The buses produced in the US state of Pennsylvania have a four-cylinder from General Motors under the hood, a machine that is linked to a three-speed automatic transmission. Remarkable: despite driving on the right in the United States, the steering wheel in the Grumman LLV is on the right. This facilitates entry and exit during delivery. The new USPS van will also receive such a configuration. Very safe. Here you can read everything about the Grumman LLV.
The arrival of the new delivery van is part of the complete overhaul of the USPS fleet. The US postal service says it has a total of 230,000 vehicles on the road, spread over various classes. About 190,000 of them deliver mail. The first copies of the announced Next Generation Delivery Vehicle will appear on the US road network around 2023.