President Biden’s grand vision for a green postal fleet has hit a wall harder than a delivery truck on a dead-end street.
According to New York Post, the ambitious, nearly $10 billion plan to transform the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) into an eco-friendly operation with over 35,000 electric vehicles by September 2028 has sputtered, delivering just 250 trucks in over two years while burning through $1.7 billion of taxpayer money.
Let’s roll back the clock to when this idea was stamped and sent. The Biden administration, riding the wave of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, earmarked $3 billion to kickstart this electric dream for USPS, aiming to replace the ancient, fire-prone Grumman Long Life Vehicles from 1987. It was pitched as a cornerstone of an environmental agenda, but the delivery date keeps getting pushed back.
Enter Oshkosh, a Wisconsin-based defense contractor, handed a $2.6 billion deal to churn out those 35,000 battery-powered mail trucks. But instead of a smooth ride, they’ve hit potholes with engineering hiccups like airbag calibration and leak testing issues. Production at their Spartanburg factory crawled at a pitiful one truck per day when they expected 80.
The numbers tell a grim story. By November 2024, only 93 electric vehicles were ready, a far cry from the 3,000 anticipated. At a cost of $77,692 per truck for over 28,000 units, taxpayers are footing a hefty bill for what looks like a stalled assembly line.
USPS hasn’t sat idle, though, ordering 51,500 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles, including the 35,000 electric ones, with over 1,000 received so far—barely 250 of them electric. They’ve also nabbed nearly 8,000 of the 9,250 Ford E-Transit electric vans ordered. Still, it’s a drop in the bucket for such a massive goal.
With $1.3 billion still unspent from the Inflation Reduction Act funds, Republicans on Capitol Hill are slamming on the brakes. They’re calling this a wasteful mess and pushing to claw back the remaining cash before more disappears into thin air.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, didn’t mince words, saying, “Biden’s multi-billion-dollar EV fleet for the USPS is lost in the mail.” Her quip cuts deep, especially when you consider the broader environmental provisions of the Act might cost up to $1 trillion over a decade. Is this green dream worth the sticker shock?
Ernst added, “I am working to cancel the order and return the money to the sender, the American people.” That’s a sentiment many fiscal conservatives will stamp with approval, given USPS’s staggering $9.5 billion loss in fiscal year 2024. Why pour more into a sinking ship?
Adding insult to injury, a Government Accountability Office report from February 2025 flagged USPS as “high risk” for financial viability, unable to fund its own obligations. Modernization, including this $40 billion investment strategy for delivery networks, sounds noble, but not when the basics aren’t covered.
Even internal voices at Oshkosh raised red flags, with a senior executive reportedly blocked from warning USPS about production woes back in 2022. An unnamed manufacturing insider bluntly said, “We don’t know how to make a damn truck.” That’s not exactly the confidence you want behind a multi-billion-dollar contract.
Former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who stepped down earlier this year, reportedly admitted, “I was in the parcel delivery business, not the vehicle manufacturing business.” It’s a fair point—should USPS be gambling on unproven tech while bleeding cash? New leader David Steiner now inherits this mess.
President Trump has weighed in, calling USPS a “tremendous loser” for the nation with its massive deficits. He’s floated merging it with the Department of Commerce to stop the financial hemorrhaging. It’s a radical idea, but with losses mounting, bold moves might be the only option left.
USPS insists progress is underway, with a spokesperson noting, “Modernization of the Postal Service’s delivery fleet is part of the organization’s $40 billion investment strategy.” Yet, when only 250 electric trucks are on the road out of a planned 35,000, that statement feels like a postcard from a fantasy land.
The Biden administration’s pledge for 100% electric postal vehicles by 2026 looms large, but with production at a snail’s pace and costs spiraling, this green initiative risks becoming a cautionary tale. Republicans are right to question the spending, but let’s hope any cuts don’t leave rural mail routes stranded. Taxpayers deserve efficiency, not just ideology, in their postal service.
