CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After previously suing the United States Postal Service over their plan to replace aging vehicles with gas-powered vehicles, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein is celebrating the USPS' plan to buy electric vehicles.
"A win for the environment," Stein posted on Facebook Tuesday.
The USPS announced in December it expects to acquire at least 66,000 battery-electric delivery vehicles. The vehicles purchased are part of a plan to begin replacing the Postal Service’s aging delivery fleet of over 220,000 vehicles, according to the USPS.
"Feasibility of achieving 100% electrification for the overall Postal Service delivery vehicle fleet will continue to be explored," the USPS wrote.
In his April lawsuit, Stein had alleged a plan to buy gas-powered vehicles would "emit significant amounts of greenhouse gases."
The U.S. government operates the largest vehicle fleet in the world, and the Postal Service is the largest fleet in the federal government with more than 220,000 vehicles, one-third of the overall U.S. fleet. The USPS announcement “sets the bar for the rest of the federal government, and, importantly, the rest of the world,'' the White House said.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who came under fire for an initial plan that included purchase of thousands of gas-powered trucks, said the Postal Service is required by law to deliver mail and packages to 163 million addresses six days a week and to cover its costs in doing so.
"As I have said in the past, if we can achieve those objectives in a more environmentally responsible way, we will do so,” he said in a statement Tuesday.
The initial 66,000 vehicles are expected to cost $9.6 billion.
The Associated Press contributed to this story