Republicans look to make a U-turn on federal commitment to electric
vehicles for the Postal Service
[August 18, 2025] By
SUSAN HAIGH
WASHINGTON (AP) — A year after being lauded for its plan to replace
thousands of aging, gas-powered mail trucks with a mostly electric
fleet, the U.S. Postal Service is facing congressional attempts to strip
billions in federal EV funding.
In June, the Senate parliamentarian blocked a Republican proposal in a
major tax-and-spending bill to sell off the agency's new electric
vehicles and infrastructure and revoke remaining federal money. But
efforts to halt the fleet’s shift to clean energy continue in the name
of cost savings.
Donald Maston, president of the National Rural Letter Carriers’
Association, said canceling the program now would have the opposite
effect, squandering millions of dollars.
“I think it would be shortsighted for Congress to now suddenly decide
they’re going to try to go backwards and take the money away for the EVs
or stop that process because that’s just going to be a bunch of money on
infrastructure that’s been wasted," he said.
Beyond that, many in the scientific community fear the government could
pass on an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to
global warming when urgent action is needed.
Electrified vehicles reduce emissions
A 2022 University of Michigan study found the new electric postal
vehicles could cut total greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 million
tons over the predicted, cumulative 20-year lifetime of the trucks.
That's a fraction of the more than 6,000 million metric tons emitted
annually in the United States, said professor Gregory A. Keoleian,
co-director of the university's Center for Sustainable Systems. But he
said the push toward electric vehicles is critical and needs to
accelerate, given the intensifying impacts of climate change.
“We’re already falling short of goals for reducing emissions,” Keoleian
said. “We’ve been making progress, but the actions being taken or
proposed will really reverse decarbonization progress that has been made
to date.”
Many GOP lawmakers share President Donald Trump's criticism of the
Biden-era green energy push and say the Postal Service should stick to
delivering mail.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said “it didn't make sense for the Postal
Service to invest so heavily in an all-electric force." She said she
will pursue legislation to rescind what is left of the $3 billion from
the Inflation Reduction Act allocated to help cover the $10 billion cost
of new postal vehicles.
Ernst has called the EV initiative a “boondoggle” and "a textbook
example of waste,” citing delays, high costs and concerns over
cold-weather performance.
“You always evaluate the programs, see if they are working. But the rate
at which the company that’s providing those vehicles is able to produce
them, they are so far behind schedule, they will never be able to
fulfill that contract," Ernst said during a recent appearance at the
Iowa State Fair, referring to Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense.
“For now,” she added, "gas-powered vehicles — use some ethanol in them —
I think is wonderful.”
Corn-based ethanol is a boon to Iowa's farmers, but the effort to
reverse course has other Republican support.
Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, a co-sponsor of the rollback effort, has
said the EV order should be canceled because the project "has delivered
nothing but delays, defective trucks, and skyrocketing costs.”
The Postal Service maintains that the production delay of the Next
Generation Delivery Vehicles, or NGDVs, was “very modest" and not
unexpected.
“The production quantity ramp-up was planned for and intended to be very
gradual in the early months to allow time for potential modest
production or supplier issues to be successfully resolved,” spokesperson
Kim Frum said.
EVs help in modernization effort
The independent, self-funded federal agency, which is paid for mostly by
postage and product sales, is in the middle of a $40 billion, 10-year
modernization and financial stabilization plan. The EV effort had the
full backing of Democratic President Joe Biden, who pledged to move
toward an all-electric federal fleet of car and trucks.
[to top of second column] |
One of the U.S. Postal Service's new zero-emission electric Next
Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV) is displayed in front of the
organization's headquarters in Washington, on Aug. 7, 2025. (AP
Photo/Susan Haigh)
 The “Deliver for America” plan calls
for modernizing the ground fleet, notably the Grumman Long Life
Vehicle, which dates back to 1987 and is fuel-inefficient at 9 mpg.
The vehicles are well past their projected 24-year lifespan and are
prone to breakdowns and even fires.
“Our mechanics are miracle workers,” said Mark Dimondstein,
president of the American Postal Workers Union. “The parts are not
available. They fabricate them. They do the best they can.”
The Postal Service announced in 2022 it would deploy at least 66,000
electric vehicles by 2028, including commercial off-the-shelf
models, after years of deliberation and criticism it was moving too
slowly to reduce emissions. By 2024, the agency was awarded a
Presidential Sustainability Award for its efforts to electrify the
largest fleet in the federal government.
Building new postal trucks
In 2021, Oshkosh Defense was awarded a contract for up to 165,000
battery electric and internal combustion engine Next Generation
vehicles over 10 years.
The first of the odd-looking trucks, with hoods resembling a duck’s
bill, began service in Georgia last year. Designed for greater
package capacity, the trucks are equipped with airbags, blind-spot
monitoring, collision sensors, 360-degree cameras and antilock
brakes.
There's also a new creature comfort: air conditioning.
Douglas Lape, special assistant to the president of the National
Association of Letter Carriers and a former carrier, is among
numerous postal employees who have had a say in the new design. He
marvels at how Oshkosh designed and built a new vehicle,
transforming an old North Carolina warehouse into a factory along
the way.
“I was in that building when it was nothing but shelving,” he said.
“And now, being a completely functioning plant where everything is
built in-house — they press the bodies in there, they do all of the
assembly — it’s really amazing in my opinion.”
Where things stand now
The agency has so far ordered 51,500 NGDVs, including 35,000
battery-powered vehicles. To date, it has received 300 battery
vehicles and 1,000 gas-powered ones.
Former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in 2022 the agency
expected to purchase chiefly zero-emissions delivery vehicles by
2026. It still needs some internal combustion engine vehicles that
travel longer distances.
Frum, the Postal Service spokesperson, said the planned NGDV
purchases were "carefully considered from a business perspective”
and are being deployed to routes and facilities where they will save
money.
The agency has also received more than 8,200 of 9,250 Ford E-Transit
electric vehicles it has ordered, she said.
Ernst said it's fine for the Postal Service to use EVs already
purchased.
“But you know what? We need to be smart about the way we are
providing services through the federal government,” she said. “And
that was not a smart move.”
Maxwell Woody, lead author of the University of Michigan study, made
the opposite case.
Postal vehicles, he said, have low average speeds and a high number
of stops and starts that enable regenerative braking. Routes average
under 30 miles and are known in advance, making planning easier.
“It’s the perfect application for an electric vehicle," he said,
“and it’s a particularly inefficient application for an internal
combustion engine vehicle.”
____
Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa,
contributed to this report.
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