AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File
The U.S. Postal Service will increase its electric-powered vehicle orders to replace its fleet of aging delivery trucks, after the Biden administration and environmental groups said the agency’s initial plan had too few electric vehicles and fell short of the administration’s climate change goals.
The Postal Service now wants 50% of its initial purchase of 50,000 next-generation vehicles to be electric, up from the previous plan for 20% being electric. The first should be rolling onto delivery routes next year. It also proposes buying an additional 34,500 commercially available vehicles over two years. The Postal Service’s fleet currently includes 190,000 local delivery vehicles.
A plan announced in February would have made just 10% of the agency’s next-generation fleet electric. The Environmental Protection Agency said the initial plan by the Postal Service, “underestimates greenhouse gas emissions, fails to consider more environmentally protective feasible alternatives and inadequately considers impacts on communities with environmental justice concerns.”
The new environmental proposal effectively pauses the purchases at 84,500 total vehicles, 40% electric, as the Postal Service seeks to buy up to 165,000 next-generation vehicles over a decade to replace delivery trucks that went into service between 1987 and 1994. More than 141,000 vehicles in service are the boxy, recognizable Grumman LLV model, lacking safety features like air bags, anti-lock brakes or backup cameras.
Environmentalists have been fighting to reduce the number of gasoline-powered next-generation vehicles the Postal Service will buy. Those get 14.7 miles per gallon without air conditioning, compared to 8.4 mpg for the older vehicles.
The proposal came after 16 states, environmental groups, and a labor union sued to halt purchases of next-generation delivery vehicles under the initial plan skewed heavily toward gas-powered trucks.
Future purchases would focus on smaller amounts of vehicles in shorter intervals than the original 10-year environmental analysis. The goal is to be more responsive to the Postal Service’s evolving operational strategy, technology improvements and changing market conditions. A public hearing on the new proposal will be held next month.
The Postal Service was cleared to place the initial order with the manufacturer, Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense, in late February after it cleared a final administrative hurdle.
In addition to modern safety equipment, the next-generation delivery vehicles are taller, which makes it easier for postal carriers to grab the packages that make up a greater share of volume. They also have improved ergonomics and climate control.