Stoneage Ramblings

By John R. Stone

If you’ve been watching the news over the past few months, you might remember that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has ordered new trucks for delivery of mail.

They will be replacing the LLVs currently in service. LLV stands for long life vehicle and the design of those vehicles started in the 1980s. Production started in 1987 and the last models were produced in 1994.

So that means that most of those vehicles are at least 28 years old.

The LLVs were the subject of competitive bidding to meet some strict criteria, according to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Among the things required were: drive 5,760 miles on a closed loop 5-mile-long paved road at 50-55 miles per hour, drive 11,520 miles over a gravel road at 30-45 mph, drive 2,880 miles over a road with a shoulder, stopping every 250 feet and accelerating to 15 mph in between, drive 960 miles over cobblestones that ranged from 3-4 inches high at 10 to 14 mph, drive 960 miles over potholes at 10-14 mph, haul a 1-ton load during half the road test, haul a man and 400 lb. load during one half of the road test, drive over potholes ensuring that each wheel hit a pothole 35,000 times and make 100 consecutive stops from 15 mph.

The final winner was a joint effort of Grumman and General Motors. Grumman made the aluminum bodies and General Motors provided the chassis. The vehicles are powered by a 2.2- or 2.5-liter engine which drives the wheels through a 3-speed automatic transmission.

The new vehicle will be called a “Next Generation Delivery Vehicle” or NGDV. The winning bidder was Oshkosh Defense, a military contractor. The initial order is for 50,000 NGDVs of which about 10,000 will be electric. They will be built in a converted warehouse in Spartanburg, SC.  

The new vehicle might solve a couple of problems with the LLV. One is that a design feature of the LLV made visibility poor. And the low front end created problems with driving in snow. There are also issues with heaters which were considered “problematic.” There never was any air conditioning.

The original design of the LLV was to have a life of 24 years. Some of these vehicles are now 35 years old.  As of 2015 nearly 142,000 of the vehicles were still in service.

There are also stories on the internet about LLVs catching fire and burning. According to one article, over 100 burned so badly a cause of the fire could not be determined.

The new NGDV will be look somewhat similar from the front but will be much taller with a large windshield. It will have a higher and longer rear cargo area because the USPS is carrying so many more parcels these days. Motor Trend said that the vehicle looks “incredibly dorky.” Something new is that the mail carrier must be able to stand up in the rear of the vehicle, most likely to grab boxes and other packages.

The vehicle is a new design from the ground up to meet the new requirements. Other commercially available vans were not deemed suitable for the USPS’s special needs. 

Other improvements over the LLV will include air conditioning, higher mirrors designed to go over mailboxes, a pretty handy feature on local motor routes, and cameras all around the vehicle. The vehicle has a sloping low nose to improve visibility.

 There was some debate about how the vehicles should be powered. Some wanted all electric vehicles. It looks like it will probably be a mix. One reason is money, the vehicles are supposed to cost $35,000 or less which would exclude the electric version, which costs more initially. The USPS will be doing some studies of the electric vehicles it does get to see how they would compare over the long term. I couldn’t see how long these things are supposed to last but if the LLV is any comparison they may be on duty longer than proposed anyway.

Vehicles will start being delivered in 2023. I have no idea how Glenwood ranks on the replacement list for its LLVs.