WASHINGTON, June 22 (Reuters) - Senate Republicans cannot force the U.S.
Postal Service to scrap thousands of electric vehicles and charging equipment
in a massive tax and budget bill, the Senate parliamentarian said late on
Sunday.The U.S. Postal Service currently has 7,200 electric vehicles, made up
of Ford e-Transit (F.N), opens new tab vehicles and specially built Next
Generation Delivery Vehicles built by Oshkosh Defense (OSK.N), opens new tab.
USPS warned on June 13 that scrapping the electric vehicles would cost it $1.5
billion, including $1 billion to replace its current fleet of EVs and $500
million in EV infrastructure rendered useless and "seriously cripple our
ability toreplace an aging and obsolete delivery fleet."Senate parliamentarian
Elizabeth MacDonough, whose role is to ensure lawmakers follow proper
legislative procedure, said a provision to force the sale could not be approved
via a simple majority vote in the Republican-controlled chamber and will
instead need a 60-vote supermajority, according to Democrats on the Senate
Budget Committee.She ruled last week that Republicans cannot use the bill to
overturn landmark rules to drastically reduce vehicle emissions and boost EV
sales.Senate Republicans have also sought to reclaim more than $1 billion out
of $3 billion Congress gave USPS in 2023 as part of a $430 billion climate bill
to buy EVs and charging infrastructure - including $1.2 billion for electric
vehic
les.USPS told Congress "summarily removing all electric vehicles and charging
infrastructure would hobble our ability to deliver to the American people, it
would directly harm our ability to serve your constituents, and it would waste
crucial funds for no reasonable purpose."Replacing the current 7,200 electric
vehicles would directly cost the Postal Service at least $450 million and USPS
has also spent $540 million on electrical infrastructure upgrades "which is
literally buried under parking lots, and there is no market for used charging
equipment," the company added.USPS would also face significant costs from
Oshkosh for halting EV purchases under its contract. USPS said in December that
purchases in 2025 would be around "50-50" EVs and gas-powered.USPS plans to buy
some 66,000 electric vehicles by 2028.Senate Republicans argued scrapping EVs
would "focus USPS on delivering mail and not achieving the environmental aims
pushed by the Biden administration."In March, the White House
forced out Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who led efforts to restructure the
money-losing U.S. Postal Service for nearly five years. USPS has lost more than
$100 billion since 2007.David Steiner, a FedEx board member and former CEO of
Waste Management, has been named as incoming postmaster general.President
Donald Trump said in February he was considering merging the Postal Service
with the Commerce Department, a move Democrats said would violate federal law.
On Monday, June 23, 2025 at 12:41:25 PM EDT, Lee Hart via EV
<[email protected]> wrote:
Lawrence Winiarski wrote
> Why bother with battery powered HVAC for scheduled service vehicles?
> If you know the schedule, just preheat/precool some thermal mass.
> Lots of mass in the batteries themselves and you can supplement that with
> water.
In the dark ages I did just that with lead-acid batteries as my thermal storage.
Before my ComutaVan, I drove a scratch-built EV designed by Wayne Goldman (also
intended for the USPS). The battery box was a roll-out central tunnel, with
fourteen 6v golf cart batteries (about 1000 lbs) and 2" of styrafoam
insulation. In winter, a fan blew air through the battery box and into the
interior for heat. When the temperature outside was 20 dg.F, the air coming
into the cab was about 60 deg.F -- not exactly warm but adequate. I also had a
small heater (actually a hair dryer) for defrosting the windshield.
In summer, the lid of the box was removed, so the fan cooled the batteries
instead of heating the interior.
--
Excellence does not require perfection. -- Henry James
But it *does* require attention to detail! -- Lee Hart
--
Lee A. Hart https://www.sunrise-ev.com
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