The Biden-Harris Inflation Control Act allocated $3 billion to help the U.S. Postal Service buy electric trucks and build charging infrastructure. The funding follows a period in which the Postal Service initially rejected electric vehicles (EVs) due to cost and practicality concerns after conducting its own analysis. Despite a $3 billion investment, only 93 electric trucks were delivered, far short of the 3,000 originally expected. This situation reflects delays in the construction of EV charging stations. The administration received $5 billion through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act of 2021 to build 500,000 stations, but only seven have been built yet.
The Postal Service also plans to acquire 60,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV), most of them electric vehicles, from Oshkosh, a company known for manufacturing military and heavy-duty vehicles. The nearly $10 billion project is facing production delays and supplier conflicts that are preventing it from being delivered on time. President-elect Trump’s transition team is reportedly considering canceling contracts aimed at electrifying USPS fleets as part of a broader series of executive actions aimed at scaling back efforts on electric vehicles. are. These include ending the $7,500 consumer tax credit for EVs and repealing fuel economy standards that encourage vehicle electrification.
Oshkosh initially plans to deliver about 45,000 electric NGDVs and 21,000 off-the-shelf EVs, including 9,250 Ford e-Transit vans, with Ford supplying the vans and Oshkosh supplying them. Modified for mail use. But according to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, the USPS will buy 28,000 vehicles in 2024, 22,000 of which will be gas-powered vehicles. The Postal Service plans to have a 50-50 split between electric and gasoline vehicles in 2025, and to have all-electric vehicles by 2026. DeJoy said the USPS is paying about $20,000 for the electric NGDV in Oshkosh and another $10,000 for the off-site electric vehicle. Comparison of commercially available electric cars and gasoline cars. In addition, the Postal Service incurs additional costs for the required charging infrastructure. The USPS expects to spend $9.6 billion on vehicle purchases by 2028, including plans to buy about 66,000 electric vehicles.
Anonymous sources told The Washington Post that engineers struggled to adjust the mail truck’s airbags to prevent water from leaking into the vehicle’s body and internal parts. The time it took to build new mail trucks was very slow. The Washington Post reports that the South Carolina plant can only build one truck a day, even though Oshkosh currently expects to build at least 80 vehicles a day. Ta. “Here’s the bottom line: We don’t know how to build a goddamn truck,” said one production official, a surprising statement from a company involved in building some of the world’s most rugged armored vehicles. mine-resistant, ambush-protected, all-terrain vehicles, etc.
The Postal Service is an independent federal agency and is not under President Biden’s executive order to make all light cars and trucks the government purchases zero-emissions by 2027. This was part of President Biden’s goal to reduce emissions by 50% in 2021. By 2030, all new cars and light trucks will be zero-emission vehicles.
But Biden’s anti-inflation law allows the Postal Service to cover the cost difference between gas-powered cars and more expensive electric vehicles, according to an anonymous White House official. Biden administration officials wanted DeJoy to buy more electric vehicles to help the administration meet its climate goals. On December 20, 2022, the Postal Service announced plans to phase out older gasoline trucks and purchase only electric vehicles by 2026. According to John Podesta, Biden’s senior adviser for clean energy innovation, “People will think, “The workers who deliver our Christmas presents drive EVs. I can drive an EV, too. ”
Then the price of trucks went up. In March 2023, Oshkosh and the Postal Service agreed to the Inflation Control Act’s “premium adjustments.” Costs increased to $2.6 billion for 35,000 vehicles. The agency agreed to pay $54,584 per truck for 1,958 gasoline-powered next-generation delivery vehicles. For 28,195 electric vehicles, the cost was $77,692 per truck. The Postal Service also purchased thousands more vehicles with spare tires and training seats, but at prices several hundred dollars more than the base model. The company’s financial disclosures show the amendments increased the total value of the Oshkosh acquisition by more than $500 million.
conclusion
For the U.S. Postal Service, the mission seemed simple. It means replacing defective old trucks with new ones that do the job. But then the Biden administration intervened. The Postal Service will purchase new delivery vehicles because older delivery vehicles made by Northrop Grumman and its predecessor companies had discontinued parts and lacked standard safety features such as airbags and air conditioning. There was a need. I got only 8.2 miles per gallon. The company’s unproven approach to electric delivery vehicles, promoted by Biden administration officials, has come at a significant cost to taxpayers. Oshkosh, the contractor, delivered only 93 of the planned 3,000 electric vehicles. The problem was caused by engineering design issues, manufacturing and supply chain issues. President-elect Trump’s transition team is considering terminating the Postal Service’s EV contract because it would likely cost taxpayers more money for EV products that have some defects or manufacturing failures.
