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blindbunny ,

I love it they look like ducks 🦆

RizzRustbolt ,

Mmm… Toriyama cars.

Evil_Shrubbery ,

Omg, I love them.

And if that is not a Trucky McTruckyface I dont know what is.

Mac ,

“The BEV variant has an estimated range of 70 mi (110 km) and a computed consumption of 1.34 kW⋅h/mi (25.2 mpg‑e). Although using the air conditioner was not expected to affect the range, using the heater was expected to reduce range by up to half. Based on the typical distance driven, it was assumed that only 20% of the battery state of charge would be used each day for most NGDVs; analysis of USPS mail carrier routes demonstrated the all-electric variant’s range could accommodate 95% of all routes.”

have to go elsewhere for vehicle specs
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshkosh_NGDV?wprov=sfla1

wittilysarcastic ,

Is this not the car from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs?

vanontom , (edited )
@vanontom@lemmy.world avatar

The first batch is possibly arriving in one city. (Pics or it didn’t happen, of course. AP delivers!) Well, that’s nice… at least they actually exist?! (That’s a bit of a low bar.) But congrats to the first drivers of these little ducks.

I’m worried it’s going to take another decade or three for the trucks to actually arrive in the numbers needed. Hopefully the USPS can survive our deplorable politics until then. They are invaluable for small businesses and keeping all mail couriers competitive.

silence7 OP ,

There is video of them in a USPS parking lot in Athens Georgia

vanontom ,
@vanontom@lemmy.world avatar

Thanks! I was actually cleaning up my comment (and fully RTFA) when I saw that AP link in middle there. Actual photos, great to see.

Thann , (edited )
@Thann@lemmy.ml avatar

you can tell they didn’t have appearance in mind.

turmacar , (edited )

…and they shouldn’t. It’s a government service vehicle, form and function over aesthetics.

They could’ve bought a fleet of <s3xy> EVs off the shelf but they would’n’t’ve been fit for service and more expensive per mile/year of use.

blindbunny ,

They do look like ducks! 🦆

scripthook ,
@scripthook@lemmy.world avatar

Thank god because I live in AZ and felt bad they had no AC. I even had one break down on the street as the engine overheated the driver didn’t know what to do. But it sucks the driver was worried about making deliveries on time. I told the driver not to drive that car cause it’s not safe

AllNewTypeFace ,
@AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space avatar

Given the fashion for giving vehicle models latinate masculine names like Camino and Montero, they missed a trick by not naming the postal vehicle the Tristero.

cogman ,

The one thing I wish they did with these things is make the roof out of solar panels.

These things are going to spend most days sitting outside in direct sunlight. They have nice big flat roofs which makes them pretty perfect to throw on solar panels. You likely would not need much charge infrastructure for the new vehicles and you’d have cut the ownership cost down even more significantly (especially in states with high electrical rates).

Regardless, these things are a no-brainer even without solar on all the vehicles. These are low speed vehicles with dedicated routes and loads of stop/go action. There’s not a more clear place to use an EV.

deegeese ,

Solan panels on vehicles sounds like a great idea but the physics makes it a stupid gimmick.

olicvb ,
@olicvb@lemmy.ca avatar

How so? Is it that they aren’t efficient enough to be worth the materials it’s made from?

ironhydroxide ,

It’s cheaper to put a light roof on a car, buy the same area of solar cells, set them up to charge a battery, and charge the car off that battery, than it is to buy a custom, toughened, solar cell the area of the roof.

Plus, you don’t have to haul around the extra weight at the worst location for weight in a vehicle.

deegeese ,

Power to weight ratio favors permanent fixed installations. A car roof is far too small to make a useful amount of energy.

cogman ,

Power to weight doesn’t matter as we are talking about using a solar panel instead of a roof. There’s no added weight. The car will already have inbuilt inverters so the only real weight add is the wiring. But also, this is a postal vehicle which will have large swings in weight anyways. A couple of extra pounds doesn’t make a difference here.

Further, this isn’t a car, which has a much smaller surface area. These things have about 10 square meters of flat roof. That’s a peak output of ~3kW. (realistically, probably closer to 1.5kW average throughout a day) which translates into 12kWh of charge in any given day. Roughly 10% of the battery capacity could be restored daily.

For large vehicles, like delivery vehicles and busses, the math on making the roof out solar panels instead of steel changes.

Fondots ,

A roof only needs to be a thin piece of sheet metal, weighing somewhere in the neighborhood of 1-2lbs per square foot

Most solar panels are going to weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-4lbs per square foot. So is likely the panel would weigh 2-4 times as much as just a plain metal roof, plus possibly a metal roof under it and/or additional framing to attach the panels to, so power to weight does absolutely come into play.

prole , (edited )

You also have to clean them constantly in this application, I imagine.

I guess they could make some kind of windshield wiper for the solar panels.

Origen ,

I’m not against the swap to EV but that is one Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs looking ass truck.

TheHotze ,

The unusual look is to make it easier to see around the front of the vehicle, which is especially important if you are stopping and starting.

spankmonkey ,

The original design didn’t have a hood and looked a but more like a mini bus. Can’t remember why they added the hood, but it was a combination of different things including not having a flat front that increases the chance of killing people vs letting them roll up on a short hood. I think wheel placement was another part so the side door to get in an out could be closer to the ground.

I kinda love how ugly they are in a utilitarian kind of way.

Badabinski ,

Ditto. Like, I think it'll become iconic in the same way the LLV is ugly-iconic. I just like it when government stuff so obviously prioritizes function over form.

littlewonder ,

It’s ugly af. Was that a project requirement or something? It looks like it has a fucking underbite lol.

MrQuallzin ,

From an article I read last week, it’s an accessibility thing. Front window needs to be low enough for short carriers, and the vehicle needs to be tall enough for a tall carrier to stand in.

Looks silly, but pretty well thought out.

partial_accumen ,

It’s ugly af. Was that a project requirement or something? It looks like it has a fucking underbite lol.

It is, but its pure function over form. If you want the whole story on this here’s a well done 13 minute youtube video: USPS Oshkosh NGDV Postal Van - Ugly by Design

Short version for the ugly:

  • drivers need to stand up at full height inside for ease of use
  • drivers, when seated, need to see very close to the ground what is in front of them
  • drivers are not all the same torso height. Men are usually taller than women so you need a really tall windshield for very tall seated drivers, and very sharp and short hood for very short drivers.

Its ugly, but is a very VERY functional design. I’d rather mail carriers are comfortable in their ride than feeling stylish.

Rhaedas ,

EVs for service vehicles that do a lot of local starts and stops is a no-brainer. Should have been done a long time ago. It's no wonder that they're getting good reception, after years of working with worn out equipment. I regularly see tow trucks with a Grumman.

someguy3 ,

They and transit buses should have been the driver (heh) for hybrids at least.

deegeese ,

Trump’s guy Louis deJoy did his damndest to prevent USPS from adopting EVs.

Speculater ,
@Speculater@lemmy.world avatar

It’s Biden’s guy too, did nothing to change him.

sparky1337 ,

Honestly anything would have been better than those old iron dukes. They were dated in the 80’s

pufferfisherpowder ,

There’s a bunch of electric garbage trucks in my city. My kid is obsessed with any heavy machinery these days so we were watching one and I got to talking to the driver. He told me that he absolutely loves them. They are easy to operate, they accelerate fast, they seem to break down less.
I have seen them accelerate, they go hard. And it’s just so fucking cool to have a big dump truck be silent?! I cannot get over how happy it makes me that they’re just chilling silently when they’re stopped. Makes my mornings more peaceful.

Cephalotrocity , (edited )

This article does that annoying thing where it uses acronyms Initialisms without previously using the full verbiage at least once.

BEV - Battery-Electric Vehicle

NGDV - Next Generation Delivery Vehicle

LLV - Long Life Vehicle

kinkles ,
@kinkles@sh.itjust.works avatar

Wtf

PunnyName ,

Initialisms, technically. But thank you nevertheless.

Cephalotrocity ,

fixed ty

bronxasaur ,

Eh, BEV could go either way

ironhydroxide ,

Who the hell calls a BEV a woman’s name?

Bev sounds like you’re shortening Beverly. BEV and you know it’s a vehicle.

Glemek ,

TIL about initialisms, which are like acronyms but when you pronounce the initial letters individually instead of like a spelled out word. DVD being an initialism, versus SCUBA being an acronym.

humorlessrepost ,

And yet there’s no <initialism> html tag, and it hurts me.

SnotFlickerman , (edited )
@SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

have air conditioning

have air conditioning

I read the whole article because I had a sneaking suspicion this was probably the biggest (and most important to drivers) upgrade. Although I will be fair and say the ability to walk through the vehicle to get packages instead of having to circle around to the back is pretty fucking sweet as well.

Dudewitbow ,

basically how i see it with delivery trucks, you need a few things.

heated/air vented seats for driver comfort along with AC.

easy access to the back of the truck

as well as room to stand in the truck, because the driver is going to have to constantly get in and out of the driver seat, so being able to get out easier/faster is good.

KingGordon ,

And a…. checks notes…… giant FUCKING window.

thefartographer ,

squints Where??

BigDaddySlim ,
@BigDaddySlim@lemmy.world avatar

Yes, I’m 6ft and have to hunch over in the back of the LLV, or squat down while re-sorting packages. The inner compartment door is one of the best things about the LLV since the heaters suck and it helps keep the heat in the cabin, plus the ease of access.

I haven’t gotten to use one of these new trucks because I’m in a smaller office which will likely be one of the last to get them but they did try and get us the newer Metris vans which are horrible. No inner compartment door so you have to constantly get out and no adjustability to the mail tray.

spankmonkey ,

My dogs know the sound of Mailman Mike’s truck when it’s a couple blocks away. They go outside to get a treat from him every day when he drives by. I’m guessing they won’t do this once he switches to a quiet EV.

Electric motors gave a quiet high pitched whine that will be extremely easy for dogs to hear and will the mailman is coming once they catch on.

So glad to see the upgrade actually has quality of life features for the drivers beyond not needing to breathe in exhaust fumes all day!

cybervseas ,

They look pretty cool, too! I hope our mail carrier gets one soon. They’ve given her a van for now since I guess the old Grumman one she was using finally conked out.

TheHotze ,

Plus the cool hood really helps with seeing over the hood, makes them safer.

cygnus ,
@cygnus@lemmy.ca avatar

It seems odd to turn to Oshkosh to build these. I wonder how they compare to Amazon’s Rivian vans.

SnotFlickerman ,
@SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I mean… the previous ones were by Northop Grumman?

https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/pictrs/image/72e8168f-2cb3-4d31-9195-a51779062727.webp

Is it really a shock that the US turns to defense companies for this kind of thing?

cygnus ,
@cygnus@lemmy.ca avatar

True, but I don’t think it’s had any link to the aerospace company for a very long time, right?

reddig33 , (edited )

There was a time when these were built by Jeep/AMC motors. People used to buy these used at auction and drive them after they were retired. And electric delivery vehicles are already built by companies like Rivian and Ford, though I don’t know what the cost difference is.

I would think building a “bespoke” vehicle for USPS would result in more expensive service parts. But I don’t know what kind of service contracts are included with these.

SnotFlickerman , (edited )
@SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

The Grumman LLVs were “bespoke” and have been being used since the 80’s??

reddig33 ,

Yes, and before that they were a general jeep vehicle built by built by Jeep/AMC. They sold the contract to LTV in 1980.

onallcylinders.com/…/neither-snow-nor-rain-a-brie…

SnotFlickerman , (edited )
@SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

And talking about the US prior to the military industrial complex and post military industrial complex are two different things.

Post WWII its been a revolving door of “defense” company executives having high positions in government.

Remember VP Dick Cheney, former CEO of Halliburton? Remember Halliburton getting no-bid contracts to rebuild Iraq?

My point is: this is the norm now.

Is it stupid? Yes. It is a result of the growth of the power of the military industrial complex? Also yes. Is it what you ought to expect based on past behavior? Fucking obviously.

ironhydroxide ,

Bespoke in that they were essentially S-10 pickups with different bodies.

Badabinski ,

I'd guess there's a bit of MIC lobbying and chicanery afoot here. Like, it does seem like Oshkosh makes some good vehicles, but there's always pressure to support defense companies when government bidding happens.

Please note that this is completely baseless speculation on my part. I'm an idiot on the internet that knows fuck-all about shit.

SnotFlickerman ,
@SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

My first thought as well. This is par for the course in modern US.

Brkdncr ,

Rivian doesn’t have the production capacity or the knowledge of navigating federal-level bureaucracy. I’d also rather it go to Rivian but I understand why they didn’t. I doubt that even Tesla could do it.

cygnus ,
@cygnus@lemmy.ca avatar

Is the rollout happening that quickly? How many are they building in a year? I also can’t imagine a company used to building MRAPs can churn vehicles out faster than a conventional automaker…

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