During a congressional hearing on Tuesday, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy confirmed plans to purchase electric vehicles to help replace an aging fleet because it makes business sense for the USPS.
DeJoy, appointed to the role by President Trump in June 2020, confirmed that the USPS purchased 28,000 vehicles in 2024, of which 22,000 have gas-powered engines. Beginning next year, USPS will buy a 50-50 split between gas vehicles and EVs, and in 2026 all delivery vehicle purchases will be EVs.
[Related: USPS sets sights on being the largest EV fleet in the U.S.]
As part of a $430 billion climate bill, the Biden administration provided the USPS with $3 billion in 2023 to purchase EVs and the necessary charging infrastructure. However, $1.2 billion of that amount must be spent solely on EVs. The USPS says it aims to buy around 66,000 EVs by 2028.
That plan is not sitting well with many Republican lawmakers, who are pushing the incoming Trump administration to cancel the USPS contracts as part of a series of executive orders aimed at EV tax incentives to for consumers and businesses to buy commercial and passenger vehicles.
DeJoy, however, insists that any change in funding to his agency must be done through legislation. Trump officials continue to remain silent on the matter.
USPS
The issuing of executive orders related to EVs is not without precedent. In 2021, President Biden did exactly so with his goal for 50 percent of all new passenger vehicles and light trucks to be zero-emission by 2030, and for new government cars and trucks to hit that mark by 2027. That order does not apply to the USPS because it is an independent federal agency.
Meanwhile, defense contractor Oshkosh remains on track to delivery 45,000 EVs. Both its BEVs and ICE-powered Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV) are manufactured at its Spartanburg, South Carolina factory.
Oshkosh won the NGDV contract in February 2021.
