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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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!

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.

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