$6 billion for electric delivery vehicles

U.S. lawmakers introducing bill to give USPS $6 billion for electric delivery vehicles

The postal service said last month it could only commit to a 10% electric fl eet without addi onal funding

WASHINGTON -- A group of 17 U.S. House Democrats on Monday are introducing legisla on that would award $6 billion to the U.S. Postal Service to buy tens of thousands of addi onal electric delivery vehicles.

The bill sponsored by Rep. Jared Huff man and seen by Reuters would require at least 75% of the new fl eet be electric or zero-emission vehicles.

Last month, the USPS said it was commi ed to having electric vehicles make up 10% of its next-genera on fl eet as part of its mul billion-dollar plan to re re its 30-year-old delivery vehicles but could boost that if it received billions of dollars in government assistance.

The legisla on is backed by some key Democrats, including Rep. Peter DeFazio, who chairs the Transporta on and Infrastructure Commi ee, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who chairs the Oversight and Reform commi ee that oversees USPS.

The bill would also require no less than 50% of medium/heavy-duty vehicle purchases be electric or zero-emission through 2029 and all new USPS vehicles be zero-emission a er January 2040.

The USPS said last month it had awarded a $482 million contact to Oshkosh Defense to fi nalize produc on for the next-genera on postal vehicles, rejec ng a proposal from electric-vehicle maker Workhorse Group Inc., which met last week with the Postal Service to ques on its decision. The USPS and Workhorse did not immediately comment Monday on the legisla on.

Workhorse, whose shares jumped 13% to close at $15.50 in New York on Monday, said it applauds “any eff orts that support the Biden administra on’s goal of expanding the government’s fl eet of clean, non-combus on engine vehicles for the benefi t of American taxpayers and the environment.”

The contract, which could be worth more than $6 billion in total, allows for delivery of between 50,000 and 165,000 of the vehicles over 10 years.

In January, President Joe Biden vowed to replace the U.S. government’s fl eet of roughly 650,000 vehicles with electric models.

Asked what it would take to buy 90% EVs, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told lawmakers last month: “We don’t have the 3 or 4 extra billion in our plan right now that it would take to do it.”

Source: Autonews.com