America's mail trucks of the future will look a little different.
The U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday announced a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar contract with Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense to build "a new generation of U.S.-built postal delivery vehicles that will drive the most dramatic modernization of the USPS fleet in three decades."
These trucks are definitely a departure from the current models.
Oshkosh Defense is projected to produce anywhere between 50,000 to 165,000 over the next decade, equipped with either fuel-efficient internal combustion engines or battery electric powertrains. "Our fleet modernization also reflects the Postal Service’s commitment to a more environmentally sustainable mix of vehicles,” Postmaster General and USPS CEO Louis DeJoy said.
Many of the agency’s 190,000 existing vehicles have been in service for 30 years.
According to a VICE story released last July, "hundreds" of the old guard vehicles have caught fire in recent years, an issue that’s cropped up due to the aging fleet and the much-publicized USPS budget crisis.
Tuesday's unveiling is part of soon-to-be-released, 10-year plan "to transform USPS into the preferred delivery service provider for the American public."
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