The USPS is moving forward with plans to spend $11.3 billion on a fleet of next-generation mail trucks that mostly run on gas, despite requests from the EPA and Biden administration to electrify its new vehicles instead. The new trucks, which were revealed last year, feature modern amenities like air conditioning, 360-degree cameras, and collision detection. While they can be powered by either gas or electric engines, the initial order from the USPS only included 5,000 electric trucks, or around 10 percent of the entire order.
“Our commitment to an electric fleet remains ambitious given the pressing vehicle and safety needs of our aging fleet as well as our fragile financial condition,” Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a statement. He went on to say that the agency would try buy more EVs as additional funding became available, but added that “the process needs to keep moving…
