The U.S. Postal Service's multibillion-dollar plan to purchase electric mail delivery trucks has been severely delayed, and another electric vehicle plan has failed, further staining President Joe Biden's office.
of washington post report The U.S. Postal Service's ambitious plan to modernize its aging delivery fleet with electric vehicles is falling far behind schedule. The $10 billion project, funded with $3 billion from the Inflation Control Act of 2022, is a key part of outgoing President Joe Biden's climate change agenda.
As of November, the Postal Service had received just 93 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV) from contractor Oshkosh, according to internal records and interviews with people familiar with the project. This is far short of the 3,000 trucks expected by this point in the rollout.
The delays are blamed on various manufacturing issues that Oshkosh allegedly failed to disclose to the Postal Service for more than a year. These issues include issues with the vehicle's airbag adjustment and water leakage during testing. Currently, the Oshkosh, South Carolina, plant can only produce one truck a day, despite plans to build more than 80 vehicles a day by this point.
The significant setback means the project, once hailed as a hallmark of Biden's industrial and climate policy, may not take shape until long after he leaves office in January 2025. . With Republicans in control of Congress and the White House and Trump in charge, officials are focused on cutting government spending, but the future of electric vehicle financing is uncertain.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) expressed concern about electric vehicle funding, saying it could be “taken back” as part of significant reforms over the next four years. suggested something.
The Postal Service plans to purchase 60,000 mostly electric NGDVs from Oshkosh. However, the company has struggled to meet production targets and has increased prices. In March 2023, the cost of 35,000 vehicles rose to $2.6 billion, with electric models costing $77,692 per truck and gas-powered vehicles $54,584.
Oshkosh told investors that the company's performance under the USPS contract is expected to decline, citing risks such as longer-than-expected engineering times to complete production vehicle designs and expanded tooling and factory construction activity. warned that it may not meet the requirements.
As delays continue, some Postal Service leaders have privately called for the agency to pull out of Oshkosh, considering alternatives such as General Motors and upstart Kanoo. The Postal Service has already purchased and deployed more than 1,000 Ford eTransit electric vans, which are currently making deliveries.
read more of washington post here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News, covering free speech and online censorship issues.
