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Only 10% of the United States Postal Service’s new postal truck fleet will be battery-powered despite President Biden’s desire to convert the entire government fleet, USPS chief Louis DeJoy revealed on Wednesday. in a testimony to Congress. The remaining 90% will be gasoline powered, although the trucks – which are built by defense contractor Oshkosh – are supposed to be converted to electric vehicles on the road.
When asked why DeJoy wasn’t the other way around, he said he was prepared to talk to the Biden administration but the USPS doesn’t have “the extra $ 3 billion or $ 4 billion.” [dollars] in our current plan it would take to do so. USPS courier vehicles make up about one-third of the entire government fleet. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The USPS announced the next-generation mail truck on Tuesday after a multi-year bidding process. He’s paying Oshkosh nearly $ 500 million to put the vehicles into production by 2023, and the defense contractor promises to build between 50,000 and 165,000 over the next ten years. They will replace the current mail trucks that have been in service for more than two decades and were built by defense contractor Grumman.
Many of these mail trucks – known as “long-life vehicles” or LLVs – are well past their expiration dates and some have even caught fire, which is not only dangerous but has also been costly. the USPS in repairs and maintenance. In addition, they are not equipped with modern equipment such as airbags or air conditioning. The new trucks offer these advantages, along with improved ergonomics and new safety features.
The USPS and Oshkosh said the deal was for a mix of gasoline and electric versions of the new vehicle, and that they would be “fuel efficient” and “low emission.” But they initially declined to elaborate on what this mixture would be or how they defined those terms.
“The [new vehicles] should be more environmentally friendly than current LLVs due to less travel required and better emission controls. These controls will reduce emissions and help improve air quality compared to the vehicles they are intended to replace, ”the USPS said. The edge. “The flexible platform will allow the postal service to purchase the [new vehicles] with powertrains that maximize fuel efficiency, reduce operating costs and enable the integration of emerging technologies in the future as they mature and deliver operational savings.
Several bidding companies offered all-electric or hybrid options during the six-year search for a new truck, which has been fraught with pitfalls and delays. However, only one of those companies was still in contention in the final phase: the commercial EV start-up Workhorse. After years of struggling to generate revenue, many analysts and industry experts have found the USPS contract to be Workhorse’s best way to survive. But some thought Workhorse had a decent chance given that he was the only one to launch an EV in the final stage, and EVs make a lot of sense in short-range delivery environments.
Workhorse said on Wednesday that he had requested “additional information from the USPS” on the decision and that he “intended to explore all avenues available to unsuccessful finalists in an appeal process. government offers. ”
Some environmental groups targeted DeJoy after the announcement of the new truck. The USPS chief has been under pressure to resign for months after accusations he deliberately interfered with the Postal Service’s ability to function properly in last year’s election, which saw record numbers of people voting by mail.
“Whether it’s undermining our democracy or delaying climate action, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy continues to fail the United States Postal Service and the American public,” said Gina Coplon-Newfield, Director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, in a press release. “The USPS ‘lack of commitment to electrify its fleet is in direct conflict with the goals of the Biden administration and the executive order to clean up pollution from US government vehicles.
But if DeJoy can make a good scapegoat, it’s not clear that politics were central to the decision to go with Oshkosh. The Trump administration has certainly spent four years showing contempt for clean air policies. But it was also pretty cool with the people behind Workhorse. Trump himself applauded the sale of the former General Motors factory in Lordstown, Ohio to Lordstown Motors, which is essentially a spin-off of Workhorse. Former Vice President Pence attended the unveiling of Lordstown Motors’ electric pickup truck (which is based on an original design by Workhorse). And the Department of Energy began due diligence on Lordstown Motors for a possible high-tech vehicle manufacturing loan while Trump was still in office, despite the ATVM program having otherwise been inactive since. almost a decade.
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