Oshkosh ready for possible USPS shift to gas trucks from EVs

Oshkosh Corp. is prepared to provide the US Postal Service more gas-powered mail trucks if the agency cuts back orders for electric vehicles, which benefit from funding President-elect Donald Trump has criticized.

“We’ll do what they want us to do — supplying either gas or electric,” John Pfeifer, the company’s chief executive officer, said in an interview at the CES trade show in Las Vegas. “A new Congress could come in and repeal, I guess, part of the IRA that hasn’t been spent.”

President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act provided $3 billion over 10 years to transition the Postal Service to an electric fleet, including $1.3 billion for vehicles and $1.7 billion for charging stations. The agency has said it plans to buy more than 100,000 delivery vehicles through 2028, of which at least 62% will be fully electric.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy last month told Bloomberg his independent agency needs to replace aging mail trucks and that he hasn’t heard from the incoming presidential administration about its planned electric vehicle purchases.

But Trump’s team is looking at whether it can get out of USPS contracts with Oshkosh and Ford Motor Co., Reuters has reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson also has said Biden’s signature climate law would be an early target for the new Congress.

Pfeifer said the company hasn’t been contacted by the Postal Service or the incoming administration about shifting from EVs.

Shares of Oshkosh fell 1.5% on Friday to $90.75 as of 9:39 a.m. in New York. The stock is down about 4.5% this year.

Electric powertrains account for nearly three-quarters of the delivery trucks the Postal Service has ordered from Oshkosh, the CEO said. Some of the components come from Ford, which also has its own contract for USPS vehicles.

A representative for Oshkosh said it has received its first order from USPS for 50,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles, which is valued at $2.98 billion.

If the USPS contract’s EV component is reduced to zero, it would likely mean a 50 cent to 60 cent per share hit to Oshkosh’s 2026 and 2027 earnings per share, Citi analyst Kyle Menges has estimated.

While electrified postal trucks cost more up front than gas-fueled versions, their advantage is low operating expenses in areas such as maintenance and refueling, according to Pfeifer.

“The Postmaster General knows that’s one of the keys to him turning around the financial performance of the postal service because the running costs are so much lower,” he said.

— By Chester Dawson (Bloomberg)