(Updates with more comments from hearing in paragraphs 5-13)
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy defended plans to buy a rising number of electric delivery vehicles and said he did not plan to return funding earmarked for zero-emission models without legislation from Congress.
In 2023, Congress gave USPS $3 billion as part of a $430 billion climate bill to buy EVs and charging infrastructure -- including $1.2 billion for electric vehicles. It plans to buy some 66,000 electric vehicles by 2028.
DeJoy said at a U.S. House of Representatives hearing on Tuesday that the EV purchase plan makes business sense for USPS.
Reuters reported last week that Donald Trump's transition team is considering seeking the cancellation of USPS contracts to electrify its delivery fleet, as part of a broader suite of executive orders targeting electric vehicles, citing three sources familiar with the plans.
Sources told Reuters Trump’s team is reviewing how it can unwind the postal service's multibillion-dollar contracts, including with Oshkosh to build next-generation delivery vehicles and Ford .
Representative William Timmons, a South Carolina Republican who represents the district that is home to the Oshkosh plant building the EVs, said USPS should revert to its prior plan to buy 90% gas-powered vehicles, but not cancel the contract.
"There's no reason that we should spend a billion plus more dollars to impose a green new deal mandate on the Post Office," Timmons said. "I can promise you that Congress is about to fix it. I look forward to working with the incoming Trump administration to right this ship."
DeJoy said any change "has to be legislation."
Oshkosh is expected to deliver about 45,000 next-generation electric vehicles and 21,000 off-the-shelf EVs, including 9,250 Ford E-Transit EVs.
DeJoy said USPS bought 28,000 vehicles this year, 22,000 of them gas-powered. He said purchases in 2025 will be around "50-50" EVs and gas-powered. USPS has said next-generation delivery vehicles bought starting in 2026 are expected to be all-EVs.
DeJoy said USPS is paying about $20,000 more for the Oshkosh next-generation delivery EVs and about $10,000 more for off-the-shelf EVs over gas-powered models.
In 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order setting a goal that 50% of all new passenger cars and light trucks would be zero-emission vehicles by 2030, and that light-duty cars and trucks acquired by the government will be emission-free by 2027. Those rules do not apply to the Postal Service, since it is an independent federal agency.
USPS said in 2022 it expects to spend $9.6 billion on vehicle acquisitions through 2028.
(Reporting by David Shepardson Editing by Bill Berkrot)
((David.Shepardson@thomsonreuters.com; 2028988324;))
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