US Postal Service chief defends plan to purchase rising variety of EVs

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Postmaster Normal Louis DeJoy defended plans to purchase a rising variety of electrical supply autos and stated he didn’t plan to return funding earmarked for zero-emission fashions with out laws from Congress.

In 2023, Congress gave USPS $3 billion as a part of a $430 billion local weather invoice to purchase EVs and charging infrastructure — together with $1.2 billion for electrical autos. It plans to purchase some 66,000 electrical autos by 2028.

DeJoy stated at a U.S. Home of Representatives listening to on Tuesday that the EV buy plan makes enterprise sense for USPS.

Reuters reported final week that Donald Trump’s transition staff is contemplating in search of the cancellation of USPS contracts to impress its supply fleet, as a part of a broader suite of govt orders focusing on electrical autos, citing three sources accustomed to the plans.

Sources advised Reuters Trump’s staff is reviewing the way it can unwind the postal service’s multibillion-dollar contracts, together with with Oshkosh (NYSE:OSK) to construct next-generation supply autos and Ford (NYSE:F).

Consultant William Timmons, a South Carolina Republican who represents the district that’s residence to the Oshkosh plant constructing the EVs, stated USPS ought to revert to its prior plan to purchase 90% gas-powered autos, however not cancel the contract.

“There isn’t any motive that we must always spend a billion plus extra {dollars} to impose a inexperienced new deal mandate on the Submit Workplace,” Timmons stated. “I can promise you that Congress is about to repair it. I stay up for working with the incoming Trump administration to proper this ship.”

DeJoy stated any change “needs to be laws.”

Oshkosh is anticipated to ship about 45,000 next-generation electrical autos and 21,000 off-the-shelf EVs, together with 9,250 Ford E-Transit EVs.

DeJoy stated USPS purchased 28,000 autos this 12 months, 22,000 of them gas-powered. He stated purchases in 2025 shall be round “50-50” EVs and gas-powered. USPS has stated next-generation supply autos purchased beginning in 2026 are anticipated to be all-EVs.

DeJoy stated USPS is paying about $20,000 extra for the Oshkosh next-generation supply EVs and about $10,000 extra for off-the-shelf EVs over gas-powered fashions.

In 2021, President Joe Biden issued an govt order setting a purpose that fifty% of all new passenger automobiles and lightweight vehicles could be zero-emission autos by 2030, and that light-duty automobiles and vehicles acquired by the federal government shall be emission-free by 2027. These guidelines don’t apply to the Postal Service, since it’s an impartial federal company.

USPS stated in 2022 it expects to spend $9.6 billion on automobile acquisitions by 2028.