Green Infrastructure | February 24, 2021

Postal Service misses an opportunity to modernize fleet with electric vehicles

Amy Cortese
ImpactAlpha Editor

Amy Cortese

ImpactAlpha, Feb. 24 – A contract to upgrade the U.S. postal agency’s 165,000 delivery trucks runs counter to the Biden administration’s effort to leverage government purchasing for the low-carbon transition.

The 10-year deal went to Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense. The loser: Cincinnati-based electric-vehicle maker Workhorse Group.

The contract was awarded by U.S. postmaster Louis DeJoy, a holdover from the Trump administration.

USPS trucks used about 195 million gallons of gas in 2019, costing $500 million and generating 1.9 million tons in carbon emissions.

Lock-in. DeJoy “is trying to lock our postal vehicle fleet into decades of carbon-intensive transportation,” said the Zero Emission Transportation Association’s Joe Britton. “This was a gas-powered bid.”