Workhorse (WKHS) Dismisses Legal Challenge to USPS Contract, Focuses on Future Government Orders

The electric vehicle company, Workhorse Group (NASDAQ: WKHS), voluntarily dismissed its legal challenge blocking U.S. Postal Service’s move to award a multibillion-dollar contract to Oshkosh (NYSE: OSK) for delivery vehicles Tuesday. Workhorse's legal challenge, filed in June, had been set to face arguments before a judge on Wednesday on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

The contract announced back in February could be worth more than $6 billion and calls for the delivery of anywhere from 50,000 to 165,000 vehicles.

The Workhorse bid proposed that the company would build an all-electric vehicle fleet while the winning Oshkosh bid called for meeting the requirement with a mix of internal combustion-powered and electric vehicles.

Lawyers for the Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss the Workhorse Group challenge saying the company "admitted failure to exhaust mandatory administrative remedies." Workhorse responded by claiming that the USPS's administrative remedies violated the U.S. Constitution, but the Justice Department countered that argument by writing that "Workhorse has forfeited its newfound...challenge by failing to raise it before the Postal Service."

Workhorse's new CEO Rick Dauch said the best way for the company to work with any governmental agency is "through cooperation, not through litigation" as the federal government has announced its intention to replace its fleet with electric vehicles.

Dauch said following the Advanced Clean Transportation show, they are are "excited about the multiple business opportunities ahead for last-mile delivery truck and drone system technologies." He said these opportunities include several commercial industry markets "as well as a broad array of initiatives designed to modernize and electrify government funded and owned vehicle fleets across the country at the federal, state and city level."

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]

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