The United States Postal Service is being sued by a coalition of diverse interests, including 16 U.S. states, the United Auto Workers, and a number of environmental entities over its decision to mostly purchase Ford powered gasoline vehicles from Oshkosh Defense to replace its existing mail carrier fleet, according to Reuters. As Ford Authority previously detailed, the contract has been met with sharp criticism ever since the USPS formally revealed the terms, but the agency declared its intention to press ahead with the vehicular acquisitions despite accusations that it ignored or failed to properly comply with environmental regulations.
In three separate lawsuits, filed in federal courts located in San Francisco and New York City, the plaintiffs formally accused the USPS and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy of incorrectly and unlawfully using an environmental analysis to sign a contract with Oshkosh Defense before conducting a full environmental review process. New York and California are among the group of states that joined one of the lawsuits, as are the UAW, Sierra Club, and Natural Resources Defense Council. Ford Authority has outlined the long road that led to these lawsuits, which arrive not long after U.S. lawmakers demanded that Oshkosh Defense disclose information related to the contract by April 2022.
Additionally, the EPA previously expressed its dissatisfaction with the contract, stating that the environmental impact of the vehicles needed a more thorough analysis. If left unchanged, the USPS will spend up to $6 billion to purchase as many as 165,000 examples of the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle over a 10 year span. Although the USPS increased the amount of fully electric vehicles it intends to order from Oshkosh, the total amount of EVs in the fleet will come in at about 10,000 vehicles.
At this point, it is unclear how Ford will play into all of this, but at minimum it will supply Oshkosh with the Ford 2.0L I-4 Duratec gasoline engine, plus transmissions, suspension parts, and other components related to the all-electric variant. Other than those components, it is not clear if the automaker will supply Oshkosh Defense with other parts, or what it is contractually obligated to provide the defense company.
We’ll have more on this ongoing saga soon, so subscribe to Ford Authority for continuous Ford news coverage.
Comments
Note the court filing in two blue states opposed to the mid- American states. A preview of the future in which infrastructure projects have multiple year delays due to multiple groups demanding their input and projects being constructed to their wants.
This suit is asinine. Cities, States, and the US President mandating all-electric for city/government fleets is asinine. Do the idiots in power remember the tropical storm in August 2020 that took out the power grid for millions of people throughout New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, where hundreds of thousands didn’t have power for a week?
All-electric vehicles in this situation, police, first-responders, mail carriers, anyone affected, are going nowhere after a few hours. Everyone will be trapped where they are, only having access to things within walking distance, which most likely will not be of any help in this situation as anything within walking distance of where you have no power won’t have power either.
Amazon delivery and USPS have very different logistical needs. For one USPS vehicles often have to travel much further.
Would you please cite your source, if you’re stating that a BEV wouldn’t work for the USPS?
I’ve found sources which indicate about 24 miles and about 45 miles.
Even if the route length was 75 miles, that still seems fairly easy to accomplish.
What I’ve found:
grit(dot)com/community/usps-rural-delivery-factoids/
“The average rural mail route is 45 miles long and serves 493 mailboxes.”
postaltimes(dot)com/postalnews/usps-could-serve-nearly-all-its-mail-routes-in-electric-vehicles-a-watchdog-says/
“The average postal route requires 24 miles of driving and nearly all of them are less than 70 miles. Current technology can therefore easily satisfy USPS requirements for EV deployment, as evidenced by foreign posts and private companies already making that transition.”
Flexibility and diversity with options to provide service.!a mixed fleet is only common sense. No one single solution.
Mean while the current worn out fleet of polluting unsafe wrecks continue to deliver the mail.
So, what is worse, clean efficient safe NEW vehicles, or dangerous CO2…yea the life giving gas.
CO2 actually does give life. Just not to you. Get an education lil fella
I want my tax dollars to be spent to lower the operating costs, to reduce pollution and to grow US manufacturing when choosing what will deliver the USPS mail. Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) mail trucks do this.
Granting that they may not work 100% of the time, BEV mail trucks will work quite well for the vast majority of uses or routes. And, I’d like to have them selected over ICE mail trucks where appropriate.
USPS mail trucks aren’t a critical service during a power outage, and BEV versions may help lessen the more devastating storms predicted as the climate changes due to burning fossil fuel.
Tell that to the person waiting for their prescription drugs.
Aren’t prescriptions sent via USPS to arrive prior to when the last pill is taken?
Hopefully, those out of a required medication would be able to phone, or have a neighbor to phone, their city or county government for help obtaining an emergency supply of the medication, maybe a week or two supply, if BEV mail delivery is suspended during a storm event that causes a power outage.
My comment references BEV mail delivery, not vehicles used in emergency services.
Do consider that physical harm is visited upon individuals due to air pollution from fossil fuels. It may not be as immediate or visible, though the cause has been established.
“Air pollution can affect lung development and is implicated in the development of emphysema, asthma, and other respiratory diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). PM and nitrogen oxide are linked to chronic bronchitis.”
As I’m unable to provide a link to above from NIH, searching for these terms should get you there:
niehs nih gov/health/topics/agents/air-pollution/index.cfm
Biden is not satisfied with the lack of Chinese content
I agree. Let’s go Brandon. Why are the blue state doing the law suits? Why is the Serria Club jumping on the band wagon? Well the Democrats want everything there way as for Serria Club they just like to stick their nose into everything. Don’t go electric because that is what Joe Biden and his cronies want.
Interesting that people benefiting from 1970s (and later) environmental regulation have become accustomed to cleaner air, less polluted drinking water, lead-free paint, etc. and the resulting better health outcomes.
If you choose not to buy or drive a battery electric vehicle (BEV), then don’t. It is your right to drive an ICE vehicle. Why would any government purchase of BEVs mean you aren’t able to buy an ICE?
“Non-contributory nonsense”, that’s Biden’s job.
I honestly was shocked when they even picked this design in the first place and couldn’t understand the logic or rational behind it. Personally I think the smarter choice was the Ford which was a Ford transit van with a few minor changes. To me that would have been the logical approach given the transit is already in widespread use and the support, logistics and service infrastructure is already there with Ford dealership service centers being all over the nation and trained technicians already familiar with the transit vans along with the readily available spare parts. This aspect is critical for keeping them operational and doing any repairs long term especially accident repairs.
And think of all the towtruck companies you’ll support towing them. I mean as a tow truck driver I know I’m excited. More Ford powered turds to chain up and drag home for paying customers. Even better, it’s a blank check as when the bill is for the tax payer, we literally get to makeup whatever we want. $260 tow fee, $300 “environmental fee”, $200 admin fee, etc.
I’m super excited and can’t wait for them to enter service so I can start towing them when they break down.
Either way though, we are buying some quality polished turds. I bet none of these “new modern trucks” last and prove themselves as well as the GM based mail trucks we have used since the 70s.. I know I still see 1984 and 86 mail trucks I’m service here.
How many 1980s Ford anything’s do you see on the road today? When’s the last time you seen a 1990 Ford anything on the road? Weren’t they all bought durning “Cash for Clunkers”? The GMs weren’t though, they still ran and drove.
did you know %90 of all GM’s are still on the road? the other %10 made it home. the reason you don’t see 80’s ford’s on the roads is because nobody wanted those. 60s and early 70s, on the other hand…
Of course all of us have all the answers…but no one has asked us. Thus it’s easy for us to be critical of whatever is decided for us. “Look. Here’s what we have done. Now you pay for it”.
Later, when they find it (whatever “it” is) doesn’t work as intended, we’ll get to pay to fix “it”.
It’s called Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Each of us is different. but we’re all equal, because we all get to pay; we’re all included! Ain’t it great?