On August 17, 2025, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) finds itself at the center of a heated political and environmental debate, as congressional Republicans push to reverse a landmark plan to electrify its aging fleet of mail trucks. Just a year after the USPS was lauded for its ambitious shift toward electric vehicles (EVs), efforts are now underway in Congress to strip away billions of dollars in federal funding dedicated to this transition.
The story traces back to 2022, when the Postal Service announced it would deploy at least 66,000 electric vehicles by 2028, a move that earned the agency a Presidential Sustainability Award in 2024 for electrifying the largest fleet in the federal government. The plan was part of a broader $40 billion, 10-year modernization and financial stabilization effort called "Deliver for America." The centerpiece of this initiative is the replacement of the decades-old Grumman Long Life Vehicle, infamous for its 9 miles per gallon fuel efficiency, frequent breakdowns, and even fire hazards.
To realize this vision, the USPS awarded a contract in 2021 to Oshkosh Defense, tasking the Wisconsin-based company with delivering up to 165,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDVs) over a decade. These new trucks, sporting distinctive duck-bill hoods, are designed with both safety and comfort in mind. Features include airbags, blind-spot monitoring, collision sensors, 360-degree cameras, antilock brakes, and—finally—a long-awaited addition for letter carriers: air conditioning.
Douglas Lape, special assistant to the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, reflected on the transformation. "I was in that building when it was nothing but shelving," he said, marveling at how Oshkosh turned an old North Carolina warehouse into a bustling factory. "Now, being a completely functioning plant where everything is built in-house—they press the bodies in there, they do all of the assembly—it’s really amazing in my opinion," Lape told the Associated Press.
Yet, the road to a greener Postal Service has been anything but smooth. As of August 2025, the agency has ordered 51,500 NGDVs—35,000 of them battery-powered—and has received 300 battery vehicles and 1,000 gas-powered ones. The USPS has also taken delivery of more than 8,200 of 9,250 Ford E-Transit electric vehicles it ordered. Still, critics in Congress, especially among Republican lawmakers, are crying foul over delays, costs, and what they see as flawed execution.
Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has emerged as a leading voice against the EV initiative. She has called it a "boondoggle" and "a textbook example of waste," highlighting what she characterizes as production delays, high costs, and concerns about how the vehicles will perform in cold weather. Ernst has pledged to pursue legislation that would rescind the remaining $3 billion in federal funding allocated by the Inflation Reduction Act for the $10 billion vehicle overhaul. "You always evaluate the programs, see if they are working. But the rate at which the company that’s providing those vehicles is able to produce them, they are so far behind schedule, they will never be able to fulfill that contract," Ernst said at the Iowa State Fair, according to the Associated Press. For now, she argues, gas-powered vehicles—especially those using ethanol, which is a boon to Iowa farmers—are the better choice.
Representative Michael Cloud, R-Texas, who co-sponsors the rollback effort, echoes these concerns. He argues that the EV order should be canceled because the project "has delivered nothing but delays, defective trucks, and skyrocketing costs." According to AP, Cloud and other critics believe the money would be better spent elsewhere, and that the Postal Service should focus on its core mission: delivering mail.
However, supporters of the EV transition warn that reversing course now would be both costly and environmentally irresponsible. Donald Maston, president of the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, cautioned, "I think it would be shortsighted for Congress to now suddenly decide they’re going to try to go backwards and take the money away for the EVs or stop that process because that’s just going to be a bunch of money on infrastructure that’s been wasted."
From a scientific perspective, the stakes are significant. A 2022 University of Michigan study found that the new electric postal vehicles could reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 million tons over their projected 20-year lifetime. While that’s just a fraction of the more than 6,000 million metric tons emitted annually in the United States, experts say every bit counts in the fight against climate change. "We’re already falling short of goals for reducing emissions," said Professor Gregory A. Keoleian, co-director of the university’s Center for Sustainable Systems. "We’ve been making progress, but the actions being taken or proposed will really reverse decarbonization progress that has been made to date."
Maxwell Woody, lead author of the University of Michigan study, argues that postal routes—averaging under 30 miles per day with frequent stops and starts—are ideally suited for electric vehicles. "It’s the perfect application for an electric vehicle," Woody explained, "and it’s a particularly inefficient application for an internal combustion engine vehicle." The regenerative braking in EVs, combined with predictable, short routes, makes the USPS a textbook case for electrification, he told the Associated Press.
Despite the criticism, the Postal Service insists that production delays have been modest and were anticipated as part of a gradual ramp-up. "The production quantity ramp-up was planned for and intended to be very gradual in the early months to allow time for potential modest production or supplier issues to be successfully resolved," said USPS spokesperson Kim Frum. She added that the NGDV purchases were "carefully considered from a business perspective" and are being deployed to routes and facilities where they will save money.
Former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy stated in 2022 that the agency expected to purchase chiefly zero-emissions delivery vehicles by 2026, though some internal combustion engine vehicles will still be needed for longer routes. The old Grumman Long Life Vehicles, which have been in service since 1987, are well past their projected 24-year lifespan, and mechanics have been forced to fabricate parts to keep them running. "Our mechanics are miracle workers," Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, told AP. "The parts are not available. They fabricate them. They do the best they can."
As the debate rages on, the future of the Postal Service’s EV initiative hangs in the balance. With billions of dollars and the nation’s largest federal fleet at stake, the outcome will not only shape the USPS’s next chapter but could also set a precedent for how the U.S. government approaches sustainability and modernization in the years to come.
For now, the trucks keep rolling—some on battery power, others still guzzling gas—as lawmakers, postal workers, and the public await the next turn in this high-stakes journey.
