Electrifying the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) fleet of vehicles would be both feasible and carry many benefits for the agency and the climate, a new report finds, bolstering the case against adopting Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s plan to buy an all-new gas-guzzling fleet.
According to the report, prepared by the USPS Office of Inspector General, nearly all of the agency’s routes could be serviced by electric mail trucks. Only 2,600 out of 177,000 routes wouldn’t be serviceable with electric vehicles – the other nearly 99 percent of routes fit within the 70 miles that the USPS has found that the electric trucks could travel on one charge.
The Inspector General concluded that electric vehicles would be able to meet nearly all of the Postal Service’s needs while helping the agency save money over time and meet its sustainability goals of a 25 percent carbon dioxide emissions reduction by 2030.
“We identified several clear benefits of adopting electric vehicles into the postal delivery fleet, including improved sustainability and environmental impacts,” the Office of the Inspector General wrote. “The Postal Service is poised to refresh its delivery fleet at a moment when electric vehicle technology is rapidly advancing. Battery ranges are improving, and battery costs are declining.”
The report comes as the Postal Service is poised to defy President Joe Biden’s pleas for the agency to go all-electric. Under the direction of DeJoy, the Postal Service finalized a plan last month to purchase up to 165,000 gas vehicles, frustrating climate advocates who say that USPS trucks are perfect candidates for electrification.
Indeed, an experimental fleet of six electric vehicles adopted by the USPS in 2017 showed numerous benefits. The agency found last year that, since 2017, those six vehicles have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 52,770 pounds. If those findings are extrapolated to an all-electric fleet, emissions reductions would triple compared to the current plan to purchase a 90 percent gas-powered fleet, the report found.
The tiny electric fleet also saved the agency $10,000 in fuel costs, since electricity is cheaper and more reliable per equivalent gallon of gas. While gas has fluctuated between roughly $2 a gallon and over $4 a gallon during the past decade, the cost of electricity per equivalent gallon of gas has hovered around $1.25, according to the report.
Buying an all-electric fleet could save the postal agency money in the long run. Electric vehicles are more reliable than gas trucks and require less maintenance to operate. Meanwhile, private companies like UPS and Amazon are buying electric vehicles in part to try to reduce emissions.
The chief caveat is that the upfront costs of buying electric vehicles would be significantly higher than the current plan to replace the agency’s 217,000 older vehicles with new gas-run trucks, according to the report. Not only would the trucks be more expensive, they would also require the installation of chargers for the vehicles when they are not in operation.
However, if Congress is willing to provide a subsidy of about $7 billion, the agency would be able to break even on the costs in about 10 years, the report finds. Congress is considering a bill that would provide such a subsidy, but the bill is moot if the agency doesn’t decide to go all-electric.
Democrats in Congress have been trying to stop DeJoy’s plan. A group of House Democrats recently called for an investigation into the contract to buy the vehicles, questioning whether or not the agency properly conducted an environmental review of the plan. Meanwhile, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia) introduced a bill earlier this month that would stop the USPS from purchasing a new fleet unless at least 75 percent of the replacement vehicles were electric.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $110,000 in one-time donations and to add 1350 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy