USPS Truck News

[Maxidyne]

USPS has experimented with electric power for the small step vans for years, but the modest savings in fuel cost could never overcome the steep upcharge for electrification. Heck, these little trucks put on so few miles that they couldn't even justify a diesel engine. And initial cost is just the first hit- Figure $5k for a replacement battery every 10 years, plus the cost of charging facilities, etc..

[kscarbel2]

Is This the New USPS Mail Truck?

Car & Driver  /  March 7, 2018

The current mail truck—the slab-sided, sliding-door, ubiquitous yet invisible white box perpetually pulled off to the side of the road—will soon follow the postal Jeep to that great dead-letter office in the sky. The U.S. Postal Service is shopping for a new ride, and that means proposals for the new mail truck are out testing, including this one by Turkish truckmaker Karsan. Will this be the vehicle that, when it appears outside your window, has you sprinting to the mailbox to see what bills and junk mail have arrived?

Maybe. Karsan is one of six manufacturers vying for the contract to replace the USPS’s aged Grumman/General Motors Long Life Vehicle (LLV) fleet, the newest of which is now 24 years old. Others participating in the Postal Service’s Next Generation Delivery Vehicle bid include Indian automaker Mahindra, South Bend’s AM General (of Hummer fame), Wisconsin’s Oshkosh (maker of MRAP military vehicles), Utilimaster from Indiana, and VT Hackney based in North Carolina.

The USPS is said to be looking for a vehicle with more cargo space for bulky packages, and given how tiny the driver of this vehicle looks behind the enormous windshield, this Karsan appears to be much larger than today’s truck. Other requirements include a sliding driver’s-side door and right-hand drive.

Photo gallery - https://www.caranddriver.com/photo-gallery/dorky-delivery-is-this-the-new-usps-mail-truck-gallery#1

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[kscarbel2]

Sam Skolnik & Paul Murphy, Bloomberg Government  /  August 23, 2018

• 5 teams competing for contract worth as much as $6.3 billion

• Pressure to `buy American’ could sway choice of lone winner

The U.S. Postal Service, struggling to stem billions of dollars in losses, is drawing close to a decision on a massive new contract to replace its aging mail trucks.

The agency is road-testing five prototype “Next Generation Delivery Vehicle” models for a contract worth as much as $6.3 billion -– a mix of American and overseas-based companies including defense contractor Oshkosh Corp., India-based auto maker Mahindra, and a team of Ohio-based electric vehicle manufacturer Workhorse Group Inc. and VT Hackney, part of a Singapore-based engineering company.

The stakes are high for the contractors and the Postal Service as it seeks to propel itself into the future.

“Postal trucks are so iconic to American suburban life,” Christoph Mlinarchik, a government contracts expert and owner of the consulting firm Christoph LLC, told Bloomberg Government. “This is a high-visibility contract that you simply have to get right.”

The so-called “Next Generation Delivery Vehicles” would phase out the 163,000 trucks designed more than a quarter-century ago by Grumman and Chevrolet. The agency is planning to issue a single award for 180,000 new vehicles that each will cost between $25,000 and $35,000, for an estimated total revenue take of between $4.5 billion and $6.3 billion.

A Likely Windfall

The five prototype finalists also include a bid from American-based defense contractor AM General LLC, and a team effort from a Turkey-headquartered Karsan Automotive and Morgan Olson out of Michigan.

The Postal Service could decide to open the process to other companies at the last minute – though it more likely will remain limited to the five prototype teams, according to a lawyer monitoring the process.

The Next Generation contract will far outpace the largest payment the Postal Service reported making in fiscal 2017: $1.6 billion to provide express air transportation to FedEx Corp., according to Bloomberg Government’s Postal Service contracts dashboard.

Rich Ansell, a marketing executive with Mahindra Automotive North America, declined comment. Calls and emails to representatives of each of the six other companies went unanswered.

Workhorse CEO Steve Burns said recently he expects the Postal Service to make its decision by the end of 2018, according to news accounts. Award timing could be key for Workhorse, which, as it attempts to move toward profitability, this month announced a new common stock public offering to raise funds.

Longer and Taller

From fiscal 2018 through 2028, the Postal Service predicts it will spend an average of $821 million per year for vehicles, “primarily driven by a multi-year acquisition of new delivery vehicles starting in fiscal year 2019,” according to a June 2018 report from the Government Accountability Office.

The Postal Service will pay for the new trucks out of its revenues from package deliveries and postage stamp sales.

By today’s standards, the Postal Service submits, the current trucks are unsafe, too small, and burn too much fuel.

On the surface, the new trucks look somewhat similar to the current boxy white models, with their eagle logos and blue-and-red stripes remaining.

Inside, they’ll be significantly different. The Next Generation vehicle – expected to have an 18-to-20-year life cycle – will include airbags, anti-lock brakes and air conditioning, features car buyers have long taken for granted. They’ll also be longer and taller than the current model, with a minimum 1,500-pound payload capacity, 100 pounds more than the current trucks.

The Postal Service also is open to a new truck that uses alternative fuels and energy sources, to save money and be better environmental stewards.

If the agency picks its lone all-electric choice – the VT Hackney/Workhorse bid – the agency is potentially looking at saving hundreds of millions of dollars in gas alone. In 2014, the agency reportedly spent almost $540 million on fuel.

At the same time, the agency is pursuing autonomous technology, which also promises to reduce fuel costs.

“The U.S. Postal Service’s goal is to obtain and operate vehicles that will help us provide reliable and efficient delivery services for customers and honor our commitment to reduce the environmental impact of our fleet, while meeting needs of our employees to best do their jobs safely,” Postal Service spokesman David Partenheimer told Bloomberg Government in a written statement.

Buying ‘American’

Part of the calculus for the Postal Service as it decides which bid to choose will be whether to “Buy American,” as President Donald Trump has urged federal agencies to do.

Agency officials will weigh Trump’s trade policies, and may feel his sting if they make a choice the White House doesn’t like, says Tim Cooke, chief executive officer of ASI Government, a federal acquisition consultancy.

“They’re liable to face a backlash if the award goes to one of the foreign-based companies – a big political backlash,” he told Bloomberg Government.

The key will be how the agency “balances the need for new technology and efficiency with a challenging political environment,” Mike Vernick, a partner with Hogan Lovells in Washington and head of the firm’s government contracts practice group, said.

Complicating factors further is the fact that some bidding companies and teams don’t fall cleanly into the “American” or “foreign” baskets. Though Mahindra is based in India, for example, the company soon will begin making off-road vehicles in a plant outside Detroit.

“In federal contracting, what ‘made in America’ means is often a complex question,” Vernick told Bloomberg Government.

The Postal Service has been awash in red ink as online correspondence has eaten away at first-class mail and the agency has been forced to reassess complicated relationships with package carriers FedEx, United Parcel Service Inc. and especially Amazon.

The Postal Service has hemorrhaged $63 billion-plus since 2007, including $1.5 billionin the fiscal quarter ending in June.

Postmaster General and CEO Megan Brennan has blamed the agency’s revenue losses on being forced to adhere to a flawed way of doing business mandated by Congress.

Critics cite different factors. The Post Office made a poor deal by charging too little to deliver Amazon packages, Trump alleged last year. He slammed the agency for allowing Amazon to dupe it into becoming “dumber and poorer.”

[kscarbel2]

I'm not saying that Workhorse should get it, but if they don't, they're heading for bankruptcy. Surefly has squandered all their money.

The three million dollar question is why neither Ford nor GM are bidding on this contract. If they can't create a mail truck, on their own, they might as well close tomorrow (obviously they can). Ford has several applicable platforms including the mid-size Transit Custom and full-size Transit.

Not a single one of the bidders is qualified to build the new NGDV, which is to say no American vehicle manufacturer is more qualified than Ford and GM. How can Bill Ford blow this off and hold up his face in public?

[RoadwayR]

I don't think Ford or GM see any real profit in this.  Not going to be a lot of margin in these vehicles, I figure USPS will put them through the wringer with endless requirements, who knows how many will actually be purchased, and once the contract is fulfilled it will be adios for 25 years.  Both Ford and GM probably figure every low margin PITA postal bucket built is one less high margin Explorer/Acadia/Traverse/Edge.

Companies in trouble don't do things like this.  USPS ought to buy something 'off the shelf' like a Transit Connect and stop trying to reinvent the wheel.  The numbers ought to be good enough to get some special options like right hand drive, ect..  

Agreed about Workhorse.  Never got off the ground after being sold off by Navistar.  And I am sure if NAV still owned it, it would be doing well right now.  And Surefly would have never happened..........

 

  

 

 

[Lmackattack]

I always laugh at these kind of Bids. The Government has no business in setting ridiculous requirements to spec a package van. in doing so it just costs the tax payer more money for something that is useless at the end of its life. I can see Right had drive being needed so right there you are in a special market but I would think the makers of these tranisit vans and sprinters have 90% of what is needed and the cost to the tax payer would not be out of line

 

[TS7]

USPS will not be needed in less than 10 years, why do they need trucks that will last 25 years? Should be shut down next year, it would not be missed.  

[RoadwayR]

They sure did get their money's worth with the LLV.  And, it wasn't that special:  Take a 4 cylinder Chevy S-10 chassis, throw a wide Silverado 1500 rear axle under it for stability, and get Grumman-Olsen to make an aluminum box body for the whole mess.  Cheap, simple, reliable, useful, and lasted well past the expiration date!   

[kscarbel2]

On 8/25/2018 at 12:56 AM, RoadwayR said:

Agreed about Workhorse.  Never got off the ground after being sold off by Navistar.  And I am sure if NAV still owned it, it would be doing well right now.  And Surefly would have never happened..........

So Workhorse went under $1.00 today, reaching a 52-week low of 0.91. I hate to say it, but I don't think they're going to make it.

Even if their partners win the USPS contract, that might only prolong the inevitable. And the partners might not want to work with a financially insolvent Workhorse.

I didn't agree with all of Ustian's tie-ups, but I did feel the Navistar-Workhorse package had a lot of synergies.

[Red Horse]

On 8/25/2018 at 12:56 AM, RoadwayR said:

I don't think Ford or GM see any real profit in this.  Not going to be a lot of margin in these vehicles, I figure USPS will put them through the wringer with endless requirements, who knows how many will actually be purchased, and once the contract is fulfilled it will be adios for 25 years.  Both Ford and GM probably figure every low margin PITA postal bucket built is one less high margin Explorer/Acadia/Traverse/Edge.

Companies in trouble don't do things like this.  USPS ought to buy something 'off the shelf' like a Transit Connect and stop trying to reinvent the wheel.  The numbers ought to be good enough to get some special options like right hand drive, ect..  

Agreed about Workhorse.  Never got off the ground after being sold off by Navistar.  And I am sure if NAV still owned it, it would be doing well right now.  And Surefly would have never happened..........

All  Transit Connects

currently built with "wrong side" drive right?  As are I'm sure the various FCA vans.  So no engineering cost to speak of.  Can't believe they can't take one of these right hand drive vans and figure a relatively inexpensive box storage system that would rotate the boxes up to the driver.  I do believe that is what they currently do.  Bins/boxes are loaded by specific route sequence.?

Might not last 20 years but upfront cost savings would be huge and as someone has said-will USPS be around in 10 years as we know it today??

[Maxidyne]

USPS's problem is that they want something bigger- Their spec is for a near 7' interior height so they can haul their "APCs" around. An APC is a shelf on wheels about 2' wide. 3 and 1/2' long, and 6' tall. Might be able to do that with a high roof Transit, but the body will be a pile of rust after 30 years and USPS won't be able to get it with electric propulsion and all their other wants for $40,000!

[kscarbel2]

12 hours ago, Maxidyne said:

USPS's problem is that they want something bigger- Their spec is for a near 7' interior height so they can haul their "APCs" around. An APC is a shelf on wheels about 2' wide. 3 and 1/2' long, and 6' tall. Might be able to do that with a high roof Transit, but the body will be a pile of rust after 30 years and USPS won't be able to get it with electric propulsion and all their other wants for $40,000!

Is that true? They want that big of a change in specs, from an Explorer chassis to a full-size van for residential delivery???

The full-size high-roof (single or dual rear tire) Transit could easily be modified for the mission.

I've never seen a Transit rust.

 

 

[Maxidyne]

Yup, they want something the size of a UPS stepvan. As far as rust goes, here in the midwest everything steel rusts, they've even had to replace some of the steel frames under the LLV's aluminum bodies.

[RoadwayR]

1 hour ago, kscarbel2 said:

I didn't agree with all of Ustian's tie-ups, but I did feel the Navistar-Workhorse package had a lot of synergies.

It did indeed, but was sold off with Monaco motorhomes when cash got tight because of someone's bad idea about EGR.

Why did they buy a motorhome manufacturer?  International Harvester did that in the 70's with similar disastrous results.  I always wondered about that plant fire..........

I was told the chassis under the new Chevy 4500/5500/6500 trucks evolved from a medium duty chassis that Workhorse was developing before NAV sold them off. 

 

 

[Dirtymilkman]

6 hours ago, Maxidyne said:

Yup, they want something the size of a UPS stepvan. As far as rust goes, here in the midwest everything steel rusts, they've even had to replace some of the steel frames under the LLV's aluminum bodies.

So true. There's transits here rusting already. Not as bad as the Sprinters rust though.  

[kscarbel2]

FCA presents U.S. Postal Service withe alternative Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) proposal.

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[james j neiweem]

KS- That jeep looks like it could still be sold>

[kscarbel2]

Motiv Power delivering all-electric step vans to USPS

Trailer-Body Builders  /  February 5, 2019

Motiv Power Systems, a provider of all-electric medium duty fleet chassis, recently began delivering Ford E-450-based all-electric step vans to the United States Postal Service (USPS).

Compared to their combustion engine-powered counterparts, Motiv says its all-electric EPIC chassis-equipped mail delivery vans are expected to curtail fuel and maintenance costs, resulting in a reduction of total cost of ownership.

The pilot program of seven Motiv-powered vans is slated for deployment in California’s Central Valley. The first vehicle now serves routes in Fresno, with the balance of the vehicles to be deployed in Fresno and Stockton as part of a year-long program. Most of the immediate project benefits are aimed for the San Joaquin Valley, an economically disadvantaged area with some of the highest pollution burdens in the country, as evidenced by CalEnviroScreen scores within the worst 5% in the state.

USPS has a history of testing electric vehicles for city delivery. The first known test of an electric vehicle for mail collection was in Buffalo NY on July 2, 1899. Since 2001, the USPS has operated 30 electric 2-ton vehicles on the streets of New York City, and these were later joined by a pair of 2-ton hybrid electric vehicles in Long Island.

“We’re proud to now be a part of USPS’ long tradition of implementing the latest technology to green their fleet,” said Jim Castelaz, Motiv CEO. “Our all-electric EPIC chassis have accumulated 500,000 real-world miles and are ideally suited to the USPS vehicle route characteristics. We’re thrilled that USPS has chosen Motiv to help meet their sustainability goals.”

USPS’ acquisition of the Motiv chassis-powered vans was developed as a partnership by CALSTART and the San Joaquin Clean Transportation Center and funded through a California Air Resources Board (CARB) award to the San Joaquin Air Quality Control. The funds are meant to provide an incentive to Californian fleets to adopt the cleanest emerging technologies and continue to advance California’s Air Quality and Climate goals.

The acquisition was made possible by California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy and improving public health and the environment, particularly in disadvantaged communities. The cap-and-trade program also creates a financial incentive for industries to invest in clean technologies and develop innovative ways to reduce pollution.

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[kscarbel2]

Cummins Provides USPS with EVs in California

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT)  /  March 4, 2019

Cummins Inc. is delivering eight battery-electric vehicles to the United States Postal Service fleet that are aimed at eliminaing vehicle emissions and reducing fuel and maintenance costs, the powertrain provider announced.

The pilot program which the delivery is based on was made possible by a grant from the California Air Resources Board to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and administered by CALSTART, according to Cummins. The program will place the zero-emission vehicles in Fresno and Stockton, Calif.

Cummins will also provide operator training, vehicle support, and data collection to support the program.

The eight Cummins-powered vans will be in service by March 31. The vans have an electric range of up to 85 miles with a full load on urban drive cycles typical of USPS collection vehicles. The direct-drive architecture provides improved performance over the gasoline-powered version in critical areas of power and efficiency.

The vans use the same charging system as passenger electric vehicles and can reach a full charge in about eight hours.

In 2017, Cummins announced its commitment to invest $500 million in electrification across many applications, markets, and regions over a three-year period.

In 2018, the company announced partnerships and collaborations with on- and off-highway OEMs who are working on electrification solutions in products ranging from bus to medium-duty trucks, light commercial vehicles, excavators, and drayage trucks.

[kscarbel2]

Cummins provides US Postal Service with 8 electric vans in California

Green Car Congress  /  April 2, 2019

In March, Cummins began delivering eight Cummins-powered all-electric vehicles to the United States Postal Service (USPS) in California. The fully-electric Cummins PowerDrive equipped vans are expected to reduce fuel and maintenance costs as well as eliminate emissions.

The pilot program, made possible by a grant from the California Air Resources Board to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD) and administered by CALSTART, will place the zero-emission vehicles in Fresno and Stockton. Cummins will also provide operator training, vehicle support and data collection to support the program.

The eight Cummins-powered vans have an all-electric range up to 85 miles with a full load on urban drive cycles typical of USPS collection vehicles. The direct drive architecture provides improved performance over the gasoline-powered version in critical areas of power and efficiency. The vans use the same charging system as passenger electric vehicles (SAE J1772 Level 2) and can reach a full charge in about eight hours, making overnight charging a viable option.

In 2017, Cummins announced its commitment to invest $500 million in electrification across many applications, markets and regions over a period of three years. Cummins Electrified Power business’ 200 engineers are solely focused on inventing electrified power solutions for its customers.

In 2018, the company announced partnerships and collaborations with on- and off-highway OEMs who are working on electrification solutions in products ranging from bus to medium duty trucks, light commercial vehicles, excavators and drayage trucks.

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[james j neiweem]

Go Cummins. Who makes the Chassis.

[kscarbel2]

Postal service to test automated delivery between 2 major hubs

Pete Bigelow, Automotive News  /  May 21, 2019

Through snow, rain or heat. Via human postal employees, and now automated machines.

The U.S. Postal Service, starting Tuesday, is partnering with [Chinese] autonomous truck company TuSimple on a two-week pilot project that will automate trips between distribution hubs in Dallas and Phoenix.

Three of TuSimple's big rigs will make five round trips over two weeks, hauling trailers filled with mail and examining the potential of automated hauling mainly along Interstate 10, a linchpin of freight movement in the United States.

The trucks are on I-10 for much of the route, but they also contain portions of I-20 and I-30 in Texas.

Long-haul routes on interstates through regulatory-friendly states and weather-friendly conditions are expected to be some of the first practical uses of automated systems, so the small-scale pilot project could portend more widespread deployments down the road.

"This is our first real run that kind of stretches our legs," said Robert Brown, director of public affairs at TuSimple. "It's a sweet spot for autonomy."

Though the two-person crews will adhere to hours-of-service limits during the project, switching drivers at various points during the 22-hour journey, the trucks will complete the 1,065-mile journey without much of a reprieve. That will allow the Postal Service and TuSimple to better understand operations on lengthy routes that cross jurisdictional boundaries at various times of day.

Human safety drivers remain a vital component of the testing. Further afield, TuSimple expects to launch fully self-driving operations, without safety drivers, in late 2020 or 2021. The company has more than 50 trucks in its fleet. With its U.S. headquarters in San Diego, the company has set up a testing base in Tucson, Ariz., from which it has contracted with multiple companies to carry goods within the state.

The Postal Service is its first public customer. If the trial goes smoothly, Brown expressed hope the Postal Service might agree to a long-term contract.

"We left it at, 'Let's see how this pilot goes,' " he said. "Going from there, ... there's room and potential to continue this relationship. For the Postal Service, automation is a good business model. They have tight delivery windows with next-day and two-day shipping. Once you can remove hourly service constraints, that's when it gets incredibly interesting."

Interstates in general, and I-10 in particular, are expected to be early hot spots for automated trucking. In 2016, officials from the departments of transportation in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California formed the Interstate 10 Corridor Coalition to explore the possibilities of coordinating rules and regulations for connected and automated vehicles over multiple jurisdictions.

"It's a major freight thoroughfare, because of its proximity to Los Angeles and Long Beach, and those are the biggest freight-handling ports in the country," said Greg Winfree, executive director of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. "I-10 becomes the main east-west way to move that product into the heartland and spread it around."

California regulations do not permit testing of automated technology in vehicles that weigh more than 10,000 pounds. For practical purposes, that limits the testing of self-driving trucks on public roads. While the state has more than 60 companies testing self-driving cars, trucking companies must look elsewhere for public-road test grounds, and places such as Florida, Texas and Arizona have proved popular.

A Postal Service spokeswoman said the TuSimple pilot project will enhance efforts "to operate a future class of vehicles which will incorporate new technology to accommodate a diverse mail mix, enhance safety, improve service, reduce emissions, and produce operational savings."

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[kscarbel2]

The United States Postal Service cooperating with a Chinese Communist Party-led autonomous truck company........what could go wrong?

[Red Horse]

13 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

The United States Postal Service cooperating with a Chinese Communist Party-led autonomous truck company........what could go wrong?

Petty cash-compared to the fact they are getting all of our commuter rail car business.

[kscarbel2]

I still look forward to learning why the USPS is purchasing a construction truck for use as a tractor, i.e. the HV (revised Workstar) instead of the more appropriate RH regional haul tractor (revised Transtar).

The only obvious reason is the RH is only available with the 12.4-litre A26 engine (MAN D26), while the 8500/8600 Transtar replaced by the RH was available with the lower priced but discontinued proprietary 9.3-litre HT570. The HV is available with both the Cummins 6.7ISB and 8.9ISL. There's simply no excuse for the RH not to be available with the ISL.

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