Statewide, Iowa (RI) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is proposing a bill to end the U.S. Postal Service plan to buy electric vehicles for its fleet of delivery vehicles.
Thousands of trucks have been ordered, but Ernst says this past spring the Wisconsin contractor making some of those E-Vs had only delivered 100 to the Postal Service.
A bill President Biden signed in 2022 provided $1.2 billion to the Postal Service to buy electric vehicles.
Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, calls her bill the “Return to Sender Act.” She says whatever hasn’t been spent buying E-Vs to deliver the mail should be returned to the government. The U.S. Postal Service currently has about 7,200 electric vehicles.
“Next Generation Delivery Vehicles” are being made by Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense and officials say the U.S. Postal Service would face substantial costs if its contract to buy E-Vs from Oshkosh is cancelled. The Postal Service is also buying over 9,000 e-Transit electric vans from Ford.
KIWA Staff Photo of Senator Ernst.
