U.S. President Joe Biden spent $3 billion on 93 electric mail trucks.
The Biden-championed Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 appropriated $3 billion for “zero-emission delivery vehicles” through September 2031, partially funding a projected $9.6 billion investment in electric vehicles by the U.S. Postal Service. One of the contracts the Postal Service signed for this project is worth at least $2.98 billion and is with Oshkosh Corp., a company that had reportedly delivered only 93 of the expected 3,000 vehicles as of November 2024.
The Postal Service’s contract with Oshkosh was announced before the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, meaning the agency had already committed to spending the money before $3 billion earmarked for zero-emission vehicles was appropriated. Moreover, most of the vehicles the Postal Service had acquired through the Oshkosh contract to date were gas-powered, not electric.
In mid-December 2024, a rumor began circulating online that U.S. President Joe Biden spent $3 billion to build 93 electric mail trucks.
The claim spread on
(X user @LibsofTikTok )
The claim also made its way onto conservative media outlets, including Jesse Watters’ political commentary show on Fox News. Watters posted a clip of his show with the chyron “BIDEN SPENT $3 BILLION ON 93 ELECTRIC MAIL TRUCKS” on X (archived).
(X user @JesseBWatters.)
We’ve rated this claim a mixture of truth and falsehood. While the U.S. Postal Service does have a $2.98 billion contract with a company that reportedly had delivered only 93 electric mail trucks as of November 2024, most of the primary elements of this claim are false: It’s not true that Biden spent $3 billion on the mail trucks or that $3 billion was spent to pay for only 93 trucks.
That’s because this claim conflates $3 billion appropriated in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which was passed by Congress and is considered one of Biden’s signature legislative achievements, with a reported $3 billion contract the Postal Service has with Oshkosh Corp., a defense and military company. The Postal Service’s initial contract with Oshkosh for 50,000 electric vehicles was awarded in February 2021, which means it was already planning to spend the money long before the Inflation Reduction Act was even introduced in September 2021, let alone after it was passed.
Thus, funds appropriated through Biden’s signature legislation would not have been available for the contract with Oshkosh. The $3 billion in funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act were for “zero-emission delivery vehicles” and contributed to a larger pot of money the Postal Service plans to spend on modernizing its fleet. According to Albert Ruiz, a post office spokesperson, the funds for the Oshkosh contract came from the agency’s general fund balance, which agencies use for their own operations without direct interference from the president.
Oshkosh Defense announced in March 2022 that the Postal Service placed its first order for 50,000 vehicles with the company, valued at $2.98 billion, and that the company won the contract in February 2021. Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law on Aug. 16, 2022.
Furthermore, only $1.29 billion of the $3 billion Congress appropriated for “zero-emission delivery vehicles” under the Inflation Reduction Act is specifically for the purchase of those vehicles. The remaining amount is for the infrastructure required to “support” the vehicles, as outlined in the legislation (emphasis ours):
In addition to amounts otherwise available, there is appropriated to the United States Postal Service for fiscal year 2022, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the following amounts, to be deposited into the Postal Service Fund established under section 2003 of title 39, United States Code:
(1) $1,290,000,000, to remain available through September 30, 2031, for the purchase of zero-emission delivery vehicles.
(2) $1,710,000,000, to remain available through September 30, 2031, for the purchase, design, and installation of the requisite infrastructure to support zero-emission delivery vehicles at facilities that the United States Postal Service or leases from non-Federal entities.
According to a 2022 news release, the U.S. Postal Service expects to spend $9.6 billion in total — which includes the $3 billion from the Infrastructure Reduction Act — to modernize its fleet of vehicles. An Oct. 3, 2024, federal audit from the Office of the Inspector General said the Postal Service’s plans to acquire “106,480 new vehicles between fiscal years (FY) 2023-2028” with “nearly $10 billion.” At least 66,230 of those vehicles will be battery-electric powered.
Four different vehicle suppliers are involved in the Postal Service’s efforts to modernize its fleet so far, according to the audit, accounting for 87% of the expected new vehicles. The agency estimates that suppliers for the rest of the vehicles will be selected sometime in late 2024 or early 2025.
Of the four suppliers, Oshkosh does appear to be the main supplier contracted by the Postal Service. While the federal audit redacted specific supplier information, it noted that the majority of vehicles would be what the Postal Service is calling “Next Generation Delivery Vehicles,” or NGDVs, and that all NGDVs so far were coming from “Supplier A.” Based on Oshkosh’s 2022 news release, the company is also calling the vehicles it is producing for the post office “Next Generation Delivery Vehicles.” According to the federal audit, the agency plans to acquire at least 60,000 NGDVs.
The Washington Post (archived) reported that, as of November 2024, the Postal Service received only 93 of the Oshkosh trucks, far fewer than the 3,000 expected. The Post said its report is based on “nearly 21,000 pages of government and internal Oshkosh records” as well as “interviews with 20 people familiar with every phase of the truck project.”
A spokesperson from Oshkosh, Tim Gilman, told Snopes the company would “defer to the USPS on exact figures, but we are on track with our contractual obligations including the ramp up to full-rate production in 2025.”
Gilman said the company is building both gas and electric vehicles for the Postal Service. In February 2023 — after lawmakers urged the agency to increase electrification efforts using the Inflation Reduction Act money — the Postal Service modified the mix of its initial order to be 70% electric vehicles and 30% “fuel-efficient low-emission internal combustion engines” (in other words, gas-powered).
The Postal Service told Snopes that as of Dec. 13, 2024, the agency had received delivery of 24 electric NGDVs and 97 gas-powered NGDVs.