Huffman: USPS should reconsider truck deal
Joined by a dozen members of Congress, North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman (D-san Rafael) called upon the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors to reconsider its 10-year contract with Oshkosh Defense to produce up to 165,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles, only 10% of which would be electric vehicles.
Earlier this month, Huffman introduced legislation to provide $6 billion in funding to replace at least 75% of the U.S. Postal Service’s fleet with electric vehicles. The Postal Vehicle Modernization Act would require 50% of medium/heavy duty vehicle purchases to be electric or zero-emission through 2029 and would ban the purchase of non-electric vehicles after January 2040.
“We are dismayed to learn from testimony by Postmaster General (Louis) Dejoy at the House Committee on Oversight and Reform that this contract would currently produce only 10% electric vehicles,” Huffman’s letter stated. “Moreover, we are informed that even the 10% target is highly questionable — it has been reported that the contract awardee has not tested an EV prototype, and recently warned investors that it lacked expertise and experience manufacturing electric vehicles.”
The letter points to President Joe Biden’s Jan. 27 Executive Order which “directed the heads of all relevant federal agencies to assist and support the National Climate Advisor on fleet electrification plans within 90 days” with the ultimate goal of electrifying 100% of the nation’s public vehicle fleets.
“Postmaster General Louis Dejoy has not only shown no sign of supporting the council, he has flouted President Biden’s directive by awarding the contract for at least 90% internal combustion vehicles on Feb. 23, 2021,” the letter stated. “Meanwhile, major private delivery fleets — including FEDEX, UPS and Amazon, among others — are aggressively transitioning their fleets to clean, safe, reliable, and cost-effective EVS.”
Reached by email on Monday afternoon, U.S. Postal Service spokesperson Kimberly Frum said the Postal Service hopes for the majority of its vehicles to be electric by 2035.
“When we selected the supplier for our next generation of postal vehicles, we imagined an electric vehicle future,” Frum said. “The new postal delivery vehicle fleet will be equipped with either fuelefficient internal combustion engines or batteryelectric powertrains and can be retrofitted to keep pace with advances in electric vehicle technologies.”
That being said, Frum said the Postal Service faces “billions in annual operating losses.”