WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service stated on Thursday it positioned an preliminary $2.98 billion order for 50,000 next-generation supply autos from Oshkosh Corp. and can double its preliminary deliberate EV purchases.
U.S. Postmaster Louis DeJoy stated that primarily based on USPS’s reform efforts and “our bettering outlook, we’ve got decided that rising our preliminary electrical car buy from 5,000 to 10,019 makes good sense from an operational and monetary perspective.”
Home Oversight Committee chair Carolyn Maloney praised the rise in EV purchases however stated “it’s nonetheless not sufficient.”
USPS nonetheless plans to purchase about 80 % gasoline-powered fashions. Maloney stated USPS “should prioritize the acquisition of electrical autos or it is going to be caught with outdated expertise that additional pollutes our surroundings for many years.”
Beforehand, DeJoy dedicated to purchasing no less than 10 % EVs as a part of a multibillion-dollar plan to retire 30-year-old supply autos.
USPS in February rejected a bid by the White Home and the EPA to rethink its plans to purchase largely gasoline-powered autos and maintain a brand new listening to.
USPS stated it expects the autos will start showing on service routes in late 2023.
In February 2021, the USPS introduced an preliminary $482 million contract for Oshkosh and stated it might order as much as 165,000 autos over 10 years in a deal that may very well be value $6 billion or extra.
The fashionable autos will change many older USPS autos that lack airbags and different security tools in addition to air-con.
USPS estimates its complete prices for getting and working 75,000 new supply autos over 20 years together with fueling and upkeep at $9.3 billion for gasoline-powered autos in contrast with $11.6 billion for electrical fashions.
In 2019, USPS operated 217,000 autos that traveled about 1.2 billion miles and spent about $706.2 million in upkeep prices for it fleet of 140,000 older supply autos.
Oshkosh stated its “contract permits the pliability, when funding is supplied, to extend the share of (electrical autos) to be produced even after an order is positioned.”
U.S. lawmakers have requested Oshkosh if it sought to keep away from utilizing union staff by deciding to construct the autos in South Carolina and requested the Postal Service Workplace of Inspector Basic to overview USPS’s car buy plan.
USPS stated final week its dedication to “an electrical fleet stays formidable given the urgent car and security wants of our growing old fleet in addition to our fragile monetary situation.”