![]() The suit asks for a preliminary injunction against the postal service going forward with the contract until the court can hear the merits of the case. The details of the lawsuit are vague, nobody is talking very much on the record, and from all that can be gleaned, the lawsuit is based on allegations made by anonymous sources to the Washington Post that the USPS never seriously considered the Workhorse bid in the first place. In fact, it has filed suit against USPS seeking to invalidate the new contract, alleging that the postal service was fundamentally opposed to electric vehicles all along and basically put the kibosh on the Workhorse proposal because of that anti-EV bias. That’s precisely what Workhorse is wondering. ![]() The current vehicles have been trudging along for 35 years, which means some if not all of the next generation could still be spewing exhaust fumes into the atmosphere well past the midpoint of the current century. Selecting a company that proposed to build mostly new gasoline-powered vehicles seemed to be a slap in the face to all EV proponents, particularly because this new crop of postal vehicles will be in service until 2040 and beyond. And when the new administration announced bold initiatives to electrify the government’s entire fleet of light duty vehicles, that also seemed to be a hopeful sign for Workhorse. Right up until the time of the announcement, Workhorse, the electric vehicle startup, was thought to be a leading contender. It’s reminiscent of the ending of Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Indiana Jones is assured the Ark will be under the care and control of “top men” whose identities are never revealed. No details were offered about what company would supply all those engines and no specs for them were ever given. Well, that’s certainly good news, except for the fact that Oshkosh doesn’t make engines. Not only that, Oshkosh went on to say those gas engines would all be state of the art, ultra efficient items with very low exhaust emissions. No one so far has said how much that would cost! But don’t worry, Oshkosh assured us, because at some point in the future, all those engines and transmissions could be ripped out and replaced with battery electric powertrains when the time was right. So we were more than a little surprised when the contract to build a fleet of new vehicles for the USPS was awarded to Oshkosh Defense, whose bid called for a mix consisting of 90% gasoline-powered and 10% battery electric vehicles. Fleet managers are all about the triple net bottom line and fully understand what costs more to purchase may be wind up being the least expensive option when all is said and done. Yes, electric vehicles today cost more than a comparable gas-powered model but when total cost of ownership is taken into account, they cost less to own over their useful life. Also, regenerative braking would significantly reduce wear and tear on brakes.ĮVs are highly appealing to fleet operators, which measure operating costs to the nearest tenth of a cent. EVs are much more efficient under those conditions as there are no internal combustion engines idling for hours while the minions from the post office make their appointed rounds. Postal vehicles do a lot of stop and go driving. To those of us at CleanTechnica, replacing those old vehicles manufactured by Grumman with new battery electric vehicles makes perfect sense. They should have been replaced years ago but politics got in the way, and so they have soldiered on through rain, snow, sleet, and gloom of night because when all is said and done, the mail must go through. They are worn out and cost a fortune to maintain. The existing vehicles are now about 35 years old. The company also announced it intends to build them at a new plant in Spartanburg, S.C.The contract to replace the current fleet of USPS delivery vehicles has been in play for years. Oshkosh says it can't comment on the suit, but that it looks forward to "getting these highly capable vehicles into the hands of mail carriers." It says it can deliver "any mix of gas powered or electric vehicles the postal service orders." Workhorse would likely build its vehicles in Ohio. Kaptur and two other Ohio Democrats have written to President Biden, asking him to take a look at the Oshkosh contract. "When you're going to be buying that level of vehicle, over 165,000 vehicles and only 10% of them are green," she says, "that doesn't really make sense to me. Kaptur says that's moving in the wrong direction. The Postal Service has said that 90% of the new Oshkosh delivery vehicles would be gasoline-powered, and only 10% would be electric vehicles, unless Congress provides it with the money to buy more EVs. Business From Amazon To FedEx, The Delivery Truck Is Going Electric
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