What's strange about them? They're a major contract vehicle builder and familiar with building vehicles for government (defense) contracts.
Like most contract vehicle builders, they put together parts from major suppliers. Bosch makes the EV motor and most likely supplies the control module and what not too.
Do you have any background on this company that I might’ve missed?
Have they been featured or ranked in any reports or articles suggesting they’re a strong EV play?
I’m asking because I’ve been following the EV space pretty closely. Mainly from a business perspective and I’m genuinely curious how this one flew under my radar.
Please don’t take this as dismissive of your opinion; I’m just trying to learn and would really appreciate any additional info you can share.
Putting some batteries and a motor on a truck chassis with a ~70 mile range doesn't require a strong EV play.
Getting a 10 year vehicle contract for the USPS with 2wd, 4wd, ICE and EV options requires a strong government vehicle contracting play.
Oshkosh makes lots of vehicles for the military. And also a fair number of niche commercial trucks. They know how to do the requisition process, and they know how to assemble vehicles.
Grumman had the last 10 year vehicle contract for the USPS; also a big military contract vehicle supplier. Grumman built the LLV on a base of GM parts, and Oshkosh is building the NGDV on a base of Ford parts, but otherwise, pretty similar deal.
10 year procurement process and 10 year purchase windows tends to add a price premium.
That said, the rivian delivery van is in the neighborhood of $85k-$90k [1], so not that far off price wise, and the NGDV has a lot of design elements that make it more precisely matched for how the USPS uses delivery vehicles. The article I linksd does point to a much less expensive Ford E-Transit, but it's still not built around the USPS's needs.
Rivian, GM, and Ford all have experience making fleet EVs. If the government procurement process is too hard for them to deal with, maybe the process is the problem. Giving it to one of those manufacturers would help them achieve economies of scale and be more competitive in the consumer and private sector fleet markets. (Sure the vehicle is a very different format, but the drivetrains and battery would be nearly indistinguishable).
Oshkosh is working in partnership with Ford. The ICE build uses a Ford drive train, and there's a connection to the Ford Transit. This is how most contract commercial vehicles are built for the US markets, take a cutaway truck/van from usually Ford or GM, and put the needed body on it. Sometimes even the cutaway cab is too much, there's often a chassis+engine only package, and sometimes a custom chassis is needed.
GM had entered the procurement process, but left early on. Rivian had no track record when the procurement process began.
No argument that the process is long, and probably has problems, but I don't think it's strange that Oshkosh made it through the process.
The ICE and EV models are supposed to be pretty similar other than the drivetrain. It may be Ford is supplying the EV chassis with the Bosch motor, or they may supply the EV with no motor. Bosch is a major automative supplier, so it wouldn't be unexpected for Ford to integrate Bosch parts.
Let’s be honest - Oshkosh Corporation is really strange choice for making EVs. Very strange choice.