WASHINGTON — A bunch of 17 U.S. Home Democrats on Monday are introducing laws that might award $6 billion to the U.S. Postal Service to purchase tens of 1000’s of extra electrical supply automobiles.

The invoice sponsored by Rep. Jared Huffman and seen by Reuters would require at the least 75% of the brand new fleet be electrical or zero-emission automobiles.

Final month, the USPS stated it was dedicated to having electrical automobiles make up 10% of its next-generation fleet as a part of its multibillion-dollar plan to retire its 30-year-old supply automobiles, however may increase that if it acquired billions of {dollars} in authorities help.

The laws is backed by some key Democrats, together with Rep. Peter DeFazio, who chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who chairs the Oversight and Reform committee that oversees USPS.

The invoice would additionally require a minimum of 50% of medium/heavy-duty automobile purchases be electrical or zero-emission via 2029 and all new USPS automobiles be zero-emission after January 2040.

The USPS said last month it had awarded a $482 million contact to Oshkosh Protection to finalize manufacturing for the next-generation postal automobiles, rejecting a proposal from electric-vehicle maker Workhorse Group Inc., which met final week with the Postal Service to query its choice. The USPS and Workhorse didn’t instantly remark Monday on the laws.

The contract, which might be price greater than $6 billion in whole, permits for supply of between 50,000 and 165,000 of the automobiles over 10 years.

In January, President Joe Biden vowed to interchange the U.S. authorities’s fleet of roughly 650,000 automobiles with electrical fashions.

Requested what it could take to purchase 90% EVs, U.S. Postmaster Normal Louis DeJoy informed lawmakers final month: “We don’t have the three or 4 additional billion in our plan proper now that it could take to do it.”