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New USPS Mail Truck Looks Perfectly Awkward Thanks to Strict Regulations
The phrase “play stupid games, win stupid prizes” has never rung so true than with the new USPS Mail Truck. Strict rules and regulations surrounding dimensions result in a truck that’s awkward, yet somehow perfect in all its weird shapes and dimensions. And while the van (truck?) is still years away from LS-swap possibilities, petrolheads are all thinking the same thing right now… aren’t we?! Let’s take a closer look.
Related: Renault 4EVER Trophy SUV is a Modern-Day Reinterpretation of the Iconic 4
Image: 2021 Amazon and Rivian all-electric delivery van
While Amazon delivery looks to the future with all-electric delivery vans in partnership with Rivian, the new USPS van – formally known as ‘Next Generation Delivery Vehicle’ – will adopt a fifty per cent all-electric fleet and is manufactured by Oshkosh Corporation, which spends most of its time building U.S. military vehicles.
How strict are these regulations then? Well, bidding for the contract included a set of tight design rules, the likes of which were outlined by Nir Khan, a bidder from Plasan. Requirements dictated “step-in height, the glass height (including the low side glass), the vision angles, the internal height, and the maximum roof height,” he wrote in a Tweet. A full list of requirements were explained in the thread below.
I was involved in an early proposal for the USPS truck so I know the requirements well. They pretty much dictated the proportions – this package sketch shows that to meet the ergonomic and size requirements, there wasn’t much freedom 1/2 #USPS pic.twitter.com/Fk35g98Z83
— Nir Kahn (@Nir_Kahn) February 24, 2021
The Drive reports that production numbers for the vehicle will land anywhere between 50,000 and 165,000 vehicles for the Postal Service over a period of 10 years. And the first NGDVs will hit the streets sometime in 2023 with a mixture of drivetrains, including a 3.5-litre V6 engine sourced from Ford as noted by Reuters in an article back in June.
Image: Dalton Priebe | The Drive
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Ben McKimm
Ben lives in Sydney, Australia. He has a Bachelor's Degree (Media, Technology and the Law) from Macquarie University (2020). Outside of his studies, he has spent the last decade heavily involved in the automotive, technology and fashion world. Turning his passion and expertise into a Journalist position at Man of Many where he continues to write about everything that interests the modern man. Conducting car reviews on both the road and track, hands-on reviews of cutting-edge technology and employing a vast knowledge in the space of fashion and sneakers to his work. One day he hopes to own his own brand.
