U.S. Postal Service seals deal for gas-powered trucks

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service has finalized a contract to replace its mail truck fleet with new Oshkosh Corp. models, almost all of them gasoline powered, after the Biden administration unsuccessfully lobbied for buying more electric vehicles.

The move, announced in a record of decision made public Wednesday, affirms a decision by the independent agency to move forward with a contested plan to begin purchasing as many as 165,000 mail trucks over the next 10 years. As many as 90% of those will run on gasoline instead of climatefriendly batteries, according to the plan.

The decision allows the agency to begin purchasing gasoline-powered trucks from Wisconsin military truck maker Oshkosh Corp. under a $6 billion contract awarded last February. The Postal Service rejected a bid from fledgling electric vehicle specialist Workhorse Group Inc., and resisted pressure from Biden administration officials to boost electric vehicle purchases beyond its planned 10% baseline.

Oshkosh fell 1% to $107.13 at 10:28 a.m. in New York trading. The stock is down 5% this year, compared with an almost 10% drop in the S&P 500. Workhorse fell as much as 3.6% and was down 1.3% to $2.99. The stock has lost almost a third of its value since the beginning of the year.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy defended the decision, stressing that the fleet replacement is urgent while reiterating the agency will buy additional battery-electric vehicles as more funding becomes available.

“Our commitment to an electric fleet remains ambitious given the pressing vehicle and safety needs of our aging fleet as well as our fragile financial condition,” DeJoy said in a news release. “The process needs to keep moving forward. The men and women of the U.S. Postal Service have waited long enough for safer, cleaner vehicles.”

But the authorization is unlikely to be the last word on the matter.

Environmental groups are preparing to immediately challenge the move in federal court, arguing the Postal Service is illegally justifying its move with a fundamentally flawed analysis of the purchase plan that underestimates greenhouse gas emissions, relies on faulty economic assumptions and fails to consider alternatives.