It was not that long ago that the US Postal Service (USPS) awarded a nearly half-billion-dollar contract for replacing its fleet of delivery trucks to Wisconsin-based military vehicle manufacturer Oshkosh Corp. But recently, House Democrats introduce a bill that could see the new USPS trucks go electric.
New USPS Trucks Going Electric?
Cnet reported that a group of 17 US House of Representatives Democrats introduced legislation on Monday to provide $6 billion to the USPS to buy tens of thousands of additional electric delivery vehicles. The bill sponsored by Representative Jaren Huffman would require at least 75 percent of the new fleet to be electric or zero-emission vehicles. If Congress approves funding, there is no guarantee the USPS would agree to buy vehicles from Workhouse.
The bill is also backed by several other key Democrats, including Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon and Rep. Carolyn Maloney from New York. Rep. DeFazio chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, while Rep. Maloney chairs the USPS Oversight and Reform Committee.
The USPS released a statement saying that the company welcomes and is interested in any support coming from Congress, the advances the goal of a Postal Service vehicle fleet with zero emissions and the necessary infrastructure required to operate it. The USPS continued that most of the Postal Service's fleet can be electric by the end of the decade with the right level of support.
The USPS' current plan, such as this, involves just 10 percent of the forthcoming next-generation Delivery Vehicles being battery-electric. That figure is obviously a long way off from the complete transition to electric power for the federal vehicle fleet that President Joe Biden touted.
According to Fox Business, the bill would require no less the 50 percent of medium/heavy-duty vehicle purchases to be electric or zero-emissions through 2029 and all-new USPS vehicles to be zero-emissions after January 2040.
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Some lawmakers have talked about giving the Postal Service additional money to expand EV purchases as part of an infrastructure bill, but the prospects remain uncertain in Congress. In January, President Joe Biden vowed to replace the US government's fleet of roughly 650,000 vehicles with electric models.
US Lawmakers Freeze Oshkosh Vehicle Contract
Reuters reported that on Tuesday, three US lawmakers introduced legislation to call on USPS to freeze Oshkosh Corp's $482 million contracts that would finalize the next-generation postal vehicles' production until the deal can be reviewed.
Representative Marcy Kaptur, the Chair of an Appropriations subcommittee, and fellow Democrats Jared Huffman and Tim Ryan urged a halt pending an investigation into whether there was a political influence in awarding the contract and if it is consistent with President Joe Biden's executive order to electrify the federal fleet.
Democrat Jaren Huffman told the publication, "why would you put us back on that treadmill? You are going to have built these for obsolescence. They will be the last vehicles running on fossil fuel on the road, it's insane." Huffman's bill would require at least 75 percent of the new fleet be electric or zero-emission vehicles.
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