It was very disheartening when I heard the gas mileage for the new mail trucks. The old ones got 8-9 mpg. The new ones were supposed to be a little over 14… Until they turn the AC on, and it apparently goes back down to 8.6mpg.
With most of the country getting hot enough to need ac so often… Ouch
The good news is that the old ones got 8-9 and didn’t even have AC, so this is still an upgrade. Additionally the frame is designed to be upgradeable to an EV and slightly under half the the order is for EVs (which are really good at stop and go driving)
The real shame is that Workhorse was a company that made a very competitive and detailed bid for an all electric fleet and basically got snubbed by USPS for some defense contractor that isn’t even delivering (90 units made as of Dec2025?). Classic corruption.
“As of 2021, USPS reported a baseline of 14.7 mpg for NGDVs powered by gasoline, which decreased to 8.6 mpg when operating onboard air conditioning—LLVs do not have air conditioning, though it is expected to be a standard feature for NGDVs.”
That’s crazy. My car I can’t tell; I’d have to have a standard route without traffic to test the impact of AC it’s so small. That’s talking about almost halving the efficiency.
I had no idea AC could have that big of an impact until I was reading about those vehicles. I always figured it would be like 26mpg, turn on the AC, 25 or something
It was very disheartening when I heard the gas mileage for the new mail trucks. The old ones got 8-9 mpg. The new ones were supposed to be a little over 14… Until they turn the AC on, and it apparently goes back down to 8.6mpg.
With most of the country getting hot enough to need ac so often… Ouch
The good news is that the old ones got 8-9 and didn’t even have AC, so this is still an upgrade. Additionally the frame is designed to be upgradeable to an EV and slightly under half the the order is for EVs (which are really good at stop and go driving)
The real shame is that Workhorse was a company that made a very competitive and detailed bid for an all electric fleet and basically got snubbed by USPS for some defense contractor that isn’t even delivering (90 units made as of Dec2025?). Classic corruption.
How the heck is the ac that much of a draw?
No idea, they even self reported it below.
“As of 2021, USPS reported a baseline of 14.7 mpg for NGDVs powered by gasoline, which decreased to 8.6 mpg when operating onboard air conditioning—LLVs do not have air conditioning, though it is expected to be a standard feature for NGDVs.”
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47820#%3A~%3Atext=As+of+2021%2C+USPS+reported%2Ca+standard+feature+for+NGDVs.
That’s crazy. My car I can’t tell; I’d have to have a standard route without traffic to test the impact of AC it’s so small. That’s talking about almost halving the efficiency.
I had no idea AC could have that big of an impact until I was reading about those vehicles. I always figured it would be like 26mpg, turn on the AC, 25 or something