The $482 million is just the next crucial step towards designing a NGDV in what could end up being a $6 billion contract over 10 years as Oshkosh delivers somewhere between 50,000 and 165,000 vehicles. That’s a fair amount of money, but Postmaster General Louis DeJoy recently told Congress that the USPS might only ask for 10 percent of the NGDVs to be all-electric models. The remaining NGDVs would be gas-powered, like the majority of today’s postal vehicles, but the new models would have low-emission powertrains.
The 10 percent number EV was enough for two Congressional representatives from Ohio, Marcy Kaptur and Tim Ryan, and Jared Huffman from California (all Democrats) to put forward a resolution that calls on Congress to investigate how the Oshkosh contract was awarded. In part, it “urges the United States Postal Service to freeze the recently awarded contract to purchase 165,000 new vehicles until an expedited review is conducted to determine there was no inappropriate political influence” and to ensure the contract is in line with the Paris Climate Accord and President Biden’s climate-crisis executive order.
The politicians aren’t the ones having heat strokes and dying in the current LLVS. I will take anything with AC!
Not being my area of interest I have no ideal if present battery technology is up to running a mounted route from 6 to 10 hours without recharge and that is what the postal service needs from a vehicle which could be assigned to go anywhere to cover for absences. Now if the United States of America should decide to gift its postal service electric vehicles and charging stations fine but to force them to buy a less mission capable vehicle for environmental concerns would just be another anchor chained around the neck