OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A Congressional committee held a hearing today on U.S. Postal Service plans to purchase electric vehicles.
Many lawmakers are pushing for a full fleet of zero-emission trucks.
To start, USPS is ordering 50,000 vehicles from Oshkosh Defense to build its Next Generation Delivery Vehicle in South Carolina.
The order will include at least 10,000 electric vehicles, twice the amount USPS originally announced.
But U.S. lawmakers want more.
“The remaining 90% up to 148,000 vehicles will be gas guzzlers. This is simply unacceptable,” said U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform.
Maloney says the Postal Service should help curb climate change by adding more electric vehicles to replace its aging fleet.
“The Postal Service may be basing its estimate on the cost of EV’s on faulty assumptions,” said Maloney.
The New York Democrat says the Government Accountability Office found the postal service used a gas price of $2.19 per gallon, in its report to determine its decision-making.
But the current price is almost double that.
“Would the Postal Service’s preference be to have 100% fleet electrification if the funding were available?” asked Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland.
“If the funding were available to us we would absolutely adjust our plans. Our plans today reflect what we can afford with our own resources,” said Victoria Stephen, Executive Director of Next Generation Delivery Vehicle.
Stephen says electric vehicles cost more to buy.
She says the benefits from electric vehicles are not enough to overcome the initial costs of putting in charging stations and navigating the supply line when it comes to minerals used to make EVs.
Inspector General Tammy Witcomb says there would be cost savings if the charging infrastructure and initial purchase of the vehicles was subsidized.
“We found that it would be an 11% decrease in cost for the postal service moving forward with an electric fleet. So it has a significant impact on the postal services cost moving forward because of the fuel cost reduction,” said Witcomb.
USPS says the agency will look into increasing the electrification of the delivery fleet.
Oshkosh has said that its contract allows flexibility when funding is provided to increase the percentage of electric vehicles.
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