Oshkosh's NGDV Mail Van Looks Incredibly Dorky for a Reason
Hint: The USPS asked for it.
Christian SeabaughWriter
Oshkosh's NGDV Mail Van Looks Incredibly Dorky for a Reason
Hint: The USPS asked for it.
Christian SeabaughWriter
The United States Postal Service's Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV) may have been built by the same company that built the sleek F-14 Tomcat but it's hardly a looker. Somehow, its replacement, the new Oshkosh Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) is even more homely looking. Especially when compared to Amazon's Rivian Prime or FedEx's BrightDrop EV600 vans . Government program gone wrong? Actually, there's a very good reason as to why the NGDV looks the way it does.
Simply put, it's because the postal service asked for it to look this way. The proposal by the USPS for its NGDV program included more than six separate documents with over 76 pages of requirements and testing procedures for automakers interested in building the NGDV. Aside from items such as right-hand-drive operating controls, available gas and electric powertrains , and two-wheel- or all/four-wheel-drive options, the USPS required the NGDV to accelerate from 0-60 mph within 35 seconds, cost no more than $35,000, have a driving range of at least 70 miles, and meet all federal safety, emissions, and OSHA requirements.
The USPS also had requirements dictating that operators, ranging from a 5 th percentile female to a 95 th percentile male, be able to stand up in the cargo area. Additionally, the USPS mandated the vehicles' max height from the ground be no more than 112 inches, that it must store at least 155 cubic feet of mail, and that the driver's seat must be between 41 and 45 inches off the ground. And that's before cracking into other requirements, such as those related to outward visibility.
Some automakers, including Oshkosh, first attempted to meet these requirements with commercial off-the-shelf vans, using modified versions of vans such as the Ford Transit . B ut as vehicle designer Nir Kahn, who worked on some early USPS NGDV proposals tweeted, a ground-up design was the only way to meet the requirements of the USPS.
So while the Oshkosh NGDV may not be as handsome as the JLTV the company built for the military, there's at least a method behind its mail truck's stylistic madness.
I generally like writing—especially when it’s about cars—but I hate writing about myself. So instead of blathering on about where I was born (New York City, in case you were wondering) or what type of cars I like (all of ’em, as long as it has a certain sense of soul or purpose), I’ll answer the one question I probably get most, right after what’s your favorite car (see above): How’d you get that job? Luck. Well, mostly. Hard work, too. Lots of it. I sort of fell into my major of journalism/mass communication at St. Bonaventure University and generally liked it a lot. In order to complete my degree senior year, we had to spend our last two semesters on some sort of project. Seeing as I loved cars and already spent a good portion of my time reading about cars on sites such as Motor Trend, I opted to create a car blog. I started a Tumblr, came up with a car-related name (The Stig’s American Cousin), signed up for media access on a bunch of manufacturer’s websites, and started writing. I did everything from cover new trim levels to reviewing my friends’ cars. I even wrote a really bad April Fool’s Day post about the next Subaru Impreza WRX being Toyota-Corolla-based. It was fun, and because it was fun, it never felt like work. Sometime after my blog had gotten off the ground, I noticed that Motor Trend was hiring for what’s now our Daily News Team. I sent in my résumé and a link to my blog. I got the job, and two weeks after graduation I made the move from New York to California. I’ve been happily plugging away at a keyboard—and driving some seriously awesome hardware—ever since.
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I generally like writing—especially when it’s about cars—but I hate writing about myself. So instead of blathering on about where I was born (New York City, in case you were wondering) or what type of cars I like (all of ’em, as long as it has a certain sense of soul or purpose), I’ll answer the one question I probably get most, right after what’s your favorite car (see above): How’d you get that job? Luck. Well, mostly. Hard work, too. Lots of it. I sort of fell into my major of journalism/mass communication at St. Bonaventure University and generally liked it a lot. In order to complete my degree senior year, we had to spend our last two semesters on some sort of project. Seeing as I loved cars and already spent a good portion of my time reading about cars on sites such as Motor Trend, I opted to create a car blog. I started a Tumblr, came up with a car-related name (The Stig’s American Cousin), signed up for media access on a bunch of manufacturer’s websites, and started writing. I did everything from cover new trim levels to reviewing my friends’ cars. I even wrote a really bad April Fool’s Day post about the next Subaru Impreza WRX being Toyota-Corolla-based. It was fun, and because it was fun, it never felt like work. Sometime after my blog had gotten off the ground, I noticed that Motor Trend was hiring for what’s now our Daily News Team. I sent in my résumé and a link to my blog. I got the job, and two weeks after graduation I made the move from New York to California. I’ve been happily plugging away at a keyboard—and driving some seriously awesome hardware—ever since.
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