Engineering:Ford-Utilimaster FFV
| Ford-Utilimaster Flexible Fuel Vehicle | |
|---|---|
 A 2000 FFV of the United States Postal Service, seen in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania, in August 2020. | |
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Utilimaster |
| Also called | USPS Mail truck |
| Production | 1999–2001 |
| Assembly |
|
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Mail truck |
| Related | Ford Explorer |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 4.0 L (244 cu in) Cologne V6 |
| Transmission | 5-speed Ford 5R55E automatic[1] |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Grumman LLV |
| Successor | Oshkosh NGDV |
The Ford-Utilimaster Flexible Fuel Vehicle (FFV; originally designated the Carrier Route Vehicle) is an United States of America light transport truck model, designed as a mail truck for the United States Postal Service (USPS), which is its primary user. It was built as a partnership between Ford Motor Company, which supplied a stripped-down, right-hand drive Ford Explorer chassis and drivetrain, and Utilimaster, which built the aluminum body and integrated it with the chassis. The FFV can operate with either unleaded gasoline or E85 ethanol-blended fuel using the Ford 4.0 L Cologne OHV V6 engine.
The FFV is similar in appearance to and has the same purpose as the earlier Grumman LLV; it can be distinguished from the LLV by the presence of a cargo-area window behind the street-side sliding door of the FFV.
History
The USPS solicited an offer to bid from Ford and Utilimaster in August 1998 for a fleet order of 10,000 vehicles to replace Jeep DJ-5 delivery vehicles.[2]:121 At the time, the phased implementation of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 required that 75% of federal fleet acquisitions were alternative fuel vehicles in fiscal year 1999.[3]:9 The contract was awarded a month later in September 1998; the first batch of 12 prototypes was completed and delivered for inspection within six months, by March 1999, which required Ford to retool its St. Louis Assembly Plant and Utilimaster to design and build a new body assembly plant. The prototypes were tested between March and July, and the feedback provided was incorporated into the final inspection vehicle, delivered on August 30, less than a year after the initial contract award.[2]:121;131
The first production FFV was completed as the "USPS Carrier Route Vehicle" on December 17, 1999.[4] The initial contract for 10,000 FFVs was completed in September 2000.[5] The per-unit cost of the FFV in 2001 was US$20,537 (equivalent to $29,700 in 2019),[3]:12 and the final total order was for 21,275 FFVs, delivered in 2000 and 2001.[6] In 2010, the USPS owned 21,137 FFVs, compared to 141,319 LLVs.[3]:12
Technical
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The right-hand drive Explorer chassis were built at Ford's St. Louis Assembly Plant, including an aluminum dash panel; the completed chassis were shipped to Utilimaster's Wakarusa, Indiana plant for final assembly.[1] The ladder frame chassis had a C-shaped cross section and six cross-members.[1] At 17 ft (5.2 m) long, it is approximately 2 ft (0.61 m) longer than an LLV[7] and has a larger cargo volume.[4] The cargo-area window was added to improve visibility over the LLV, especially for right-hand turns.[4]
The FFV was equipped with a 3:55:1 final drive limited-slip rear axle, powered by the 4.0L Cologne V6 through a 5-speed automatic transmission. The engine had a peak output of 160 hp (162 PS; 119 kW) at 4,000 RPM and 225 lb⋅ft (305 N⋅m; 31 kg⋅m) at 2,750 RPM. It rides on 15 in (380 mm) steel wheels and LT195/75R15C tires.[1] Anecdotal evidence shows that some FFVs have four-wheel-drive.[8] The FFV has an average observed fuel consumption of 6.9 mpg‑US (34.1 L/100 km; 8.3 mpg‑imp), worse than the 8.2 mpg‑US (28.7 L/100 km; 9.8 mpg‑imp) of the LLVs and slightly better than the 6.3 mpg‑US (37.3 L/100 km; 7.6 mpg‑imp) of the commercial off-the-shelf Mercedes Metris vans that have been used to supplement the fleet.[9]:Table G-1
At the time they were acquired, the only flexible fuel-capable engines were 6-cylinder types, which proved to be heavier and less fuel efficient than the 4-cylinder engines in the LLVs; in addition, E85 has less energy than gasoline, by volume, and it was estimated the USPS used 587,000 US gal (489,000 imp gal; 2,220,000 L) of E85 in fiscal year 2010 at a cost premium of US$135,700 (equivalent to $159,100 in 2019) compared to using gasoline vehicles.[3]:19 In Fiscal Year 2005, it was estimated that only 1,000 of the FFVs were using E85 regularly, consuming 582,000 US gal (485,000 imp gal; 2,200,000 L) with a 26% decrease in fuel economy.[10]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Ford Motor Company and Utilimaster Deliver For the United States Postal Service" (Press release). Ford Motor Company. 23 July 1999. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Pepin, Michael P. (December 1999). "8: Case Study Validation: 2000 USPS Explorer CRV Program" (PDF). An Investigation of the Enablers and Inhibitors to Achieving a Shorter Cycle Product Development System (PDF) (Master of Science thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. pp. 121–133.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 United States Postal Service: Strategy Needed to Address Aging Delivery Fleet, GAO 11-386 (Report). United States Government Accountability Office. May 2011. https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-11-386.pdf. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Debut USPS vehicle". Nappanee Advance-News. December 22, 1999. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=NAN19991222.1.7.
- ↑ "Landmark Reached in Production of New Postal Truck" (Press release). Utilimaster Corporation. September 22, 2000. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
- ↑ "Delivering the Goods". Industry Today. August 26, 2000. https://industrytoday.com/delivering-the-goods/.
- ↑ Safe Driver Program, Handbook EL-804 (Report). United States Postal Service. June 2013. https://www.nalc.org/workplace-issues/resources/manuals/other/EL-804-June-2013-Safe-Driver-Program.pdf. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
- ↑ Streeter, Mercedes (December 11, 2023). "Those Slightly Curvier Postal Trucks Aren't What You Think". The Autopian. https://www.theautopian.com/those-slightly-curvier-postal-trucks-arent-what-you-think/.
- ↑ Final Environmental Impact Statement: United States Postal Service Next Generation Delivery Vehicle Acquisitions (Report). United States Postal Service. December 2021. p. G-2. https://uspsngdveis.com/documents/USPS+NGDV+FEIS_Dec+2021.pdf. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
- ↑ Fraer, Richard (February 22, 2006). US Postal Service Alternative Fuels Program (Report). Engineering Department, United States Postal Service. https://www-f.nescaum.org/documents/improving-the-fuel-economy-of-heavy-duty-fleets/richardfraer-1.pdf/. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
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