Defense contractor Oshkosh had only delivered 93 trucks by November — compared to 3,000 expected by now. The delays put Biden’s climate goals at risk.
By Jacob Bogage, The Washington PostThe U.S. Postal Service's next-generation delivery vehicle, left, is displayed as one new battery electric delivery trucks leaves the Kokomo Sorting and Delivery Center in Kokomo, Ind., Aug. 29, 2024.
Among the problems: Engineers struggle to calibrate the vehicles’ air bags, according to two people familiar with the manufacturing process. When workers ran leak tests on the vehicles’ bodies and internal components, water poured out as if their oversize windows had been left open in a storm, three people said.Oshkosh can produce just one truck per day at its South Carolina factory, according to internal company records and five people with knowledge of the production process.
This report is based on nearly 21,000 pages of government and internal Oshkosh records obtained by The Post through the Freedom of Information Act and other sources. It is also based on interviews with 20 people familiar “Since we were selected to fulfill the NGDV contract in 2021, Oshkosh and the USPS have worked closely together to design and deliver a modernized fleet with a flexible mix of American-made electric- and gas-powered vehicles that will connect every home and business across the country. New vehicles are in service today, which have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from postal carriers,” the spokesperson said.John Pfeifer, Oshkosh’s chief executive, told investors on Oct.
“We’re moving forward in modernizing our vehicle fleet - which will bring tremendous benefits to our organization. Under our plan, letter carriers in every state will be able to deliver mail and packages using new and modern vehicles within the next five years,” DeJoy said in a statement. “The work being done on this program demonstrates electrification and sustainability efforts can coexist - not conflict - with cost savings, efficiency gains and operational transformation priorities.
Weeks after DeJoy’s confident report that NGDVs would be on the road in 2023, a Challenge executive informed Oshkosh leaders that it didn’t expect to complete its first NGDV body until May 2024, according to emails obtained by The Post. “It will get people thinking, ‘If the postal worker delivering our Christmas presents … is driving an EV, I can drive one, too,’” John Podesta, Biden’s senior adviser for clean energy innovation, said at an event announcing the plans at postal headquarters in Washington.
Less than an hour later, Bent asked Bleck for a meeting with postal officials within the next several weeks to “expose the inaccurate timelines and information shared with USPS earlier this month.” Bent declined to comment. 150 vehicles to the Postal Service in 2024 - “approximately 2,100 less than plan,” according to a company presentation - and 90 more than Oshkosh actually provided, the Postal Service reported.
employees found parts installed incorrectly, shoddy construction and faulty software, according to three people familiar with the situation.
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