USPS Electric Vehicle Initiative Faces Major Setbacks Despite $3B Spending

WASHINGTON – A critical assessment of the U.S. Postal Service’s ambitious push for an all-electric mail fleet suggests significant hurdles despite nearly half a billion dollars in taxpayer funding already allocated.

According to a letter sent to Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and subsequently obtained by Newsmax Wires, progress on converting the nation’s postal delivery service to battery-powered trucks has been markedly slower than expected. Senator Ernst chairs the Senate Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus.

The initiative gained momentum under the Biden administration’s championing through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, with substantial taxpayer money designated for transitioning to Next Generation Delivery Vehicles or NGDVs – battery-powered delivery trucks designed specifically for postal routes. The vast majority of this funding went towards Wisconsin-based defense contractor Oshkosh Defense.

However, results have been disappointing. USP’s vice president of government relations, Peter Pastre, confirmed via Nov. 17 correspondence that only 612 NGDV battery-electric trucks had entered service by November across just fifteen locations nationwide as recently as late October or early November – meaning the production pace has averaged three to four vehicles per day over roughly the preceding hundred days.

While officials note they have also deployed standard left-hand-drive Ford E-Transit models, these are incompatible with most postal routes requiring right-hand-drive configurations. Despite this limited rollout of specialized NGDVs, Pastre stated that charging infrastructure deployment remains robust, installing 6,651 ports at seventy-five sites – a nearly threefold increase relative to the number of electric vehicles currently in use.

Senator Ernst’s concerns date back further, having branded the effort a failure even before receiving these figures. Earlier this year, she advocated for complete cancellation of the contract given that $2.6 billion had already been expended with minimal vehicle production then recorded earlier – an issue compounded by criticism highlighting Oshkosh Defense’s troubled manufacturing process.

The Biden administration pledged to achieve a fully electric postal fleet starting in 2026 as part of a larger, approximately ten-billion-dollar project aimed at replacing over one hundred thousand aging mail trucks. Battery-electric vehicles represented roughly one-third – about thirty-five-thousand units – of the overall replacement target initially specified.

USPS insists delays are normal for establishing new production lines and points to broader efforts still in motion. In an effort to reassure stakeholders, they issued a press release touting plans to obtain 45,000 NGDVs alongside 21,000 commercial battery-electric vehicles by 2028.

However, the agency’s continued acquisition of internal combustion engine delivery trucks – specifically acquiring another 26,341 gasoline-powered models including Mercedes Metris vans and Ram ProMasters – appears to contradict its stated commitment to a fully electric future. This includes plans for approximately forty-thousand-two-hundred fifty gasoline vehicles despite billions earmarked elsewhere.

The initiative also faces scrutiny regarding fiscal accountability, with Senator Ernst calling the spending “a tremendous waste” while emphasizing Americans deserve answers about taxpayer funds being used inefficiently and purchasing additional models that remain unused or incompatible.
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