Why EV giant with a contract for 100k USPS trucks has suddenly offered to convert them to gas
The company behind the United States Postal Service’s all-electric mail trucks has said it is willing to switch to gas-powered vehicles.
Oshkosh Corp., which supplies the so-called “Duck” mail trucks, has said it is prepared to pivot if the USPS cuts orders for electric vehicles under Trump’s second term.
Trump, who takes office on January 20, has long criticized the funding brought in by the Biden administration to transition to an electric mail fleet.
President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provided $3 billion over ten years to make the Postal Service fully electric, including trucks and charging stations.
The USPS said last October that it plans to buy more than 100,000 mail trucks through 2028, at least 62 percent of which will be electric vehicles.
Oshkosh has received its first order from USPS for 50,000 electric trucks, valued at $2.98 billion.
But Oshkosh CEO John Pfeifer said the company would be willing to switch back to gas if necessary.
“We will do what they want us to do: supply gas or electricity,” he says said in an interview at the CES trade show in Las Vegas: Bloomberg reported.
“There could be a new Congress that could, I think, repeal some of the IRA that hasn’t been spent yet.”
Oshkosh Corp., which supplies the so-called “Duck” mail trucks, has said it is prepared to pivot if the USPS cuts orders for electric vehicles under Trump’s second term
Trump’s team is reportedly exploring whether it can get out of the USPS contracts with Oshkosh and Ford, Reuters reports.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, meanwhile, told Bloomberg last month that the agency needs to replace aging mail trucks, but he has not yet heard from the new administration whether it plans to buy electric vehicles or not.
Pfeifer said the company has also not heard from the new administration or USPS about moving away from electric trucks.
He said electric vehicles make up nearly three-quarters of the delivery vehicles the Postal Service has ordered from Oshkosh.
While electric trucks cost They are more advanced than gas-powered versions, but their advantage is lower operating costs for maintenance and refueling, he added.
“The Postmaster General knows this is one of the keys to improving the financial performance of the Postal Service because operating costs are so much lower,” he told Bloomberg.
“We’ll do what they want us to do: provide gas or electricity,” Oshkosh CEO John Pfeifer said in an interview at the CES trade show in Las Vegas.
Trump, who takes office on January 20, has long criticized the funding brought in by the Biden administration to transition to an electric mail fleet
President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provided $3 billion over ten years to make the Postal Service fully electric (photo: Biden test drive a GMC Hummer EV)
USPS has made several changes since 2021 as part of the financially beleaguered agency’s plan to avoid $160 billion in projected losses over a decade.
Like other postal services around the world, it is facing headwinds as fewer people send physical mail.
The agency, like many other independent agencies and government departments, is likely waiting with bated breath to see what steps the newly elected president will take once he is sworn in.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has already said that the IRA, Biden’s signature climate bill, would be an early target for the new Congress.
Trump, an outspoken critic of electric cars, said last year that no state would be allowed to ban gas-powered cars if he won a second term.
If the EV component of Oshkosh’s contract with USPS were reduced to zero, it would likely mean a 50 to 60 cents per share impact on the company’s earnings per share in 2026 and 2027, Citi analyst Kyle Menges estimates. reports Bloomberg.