The United States Postal Service (USPS) has awarded contracts for the purchase of 9,250 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and more than 14,000 EV charging stations to support them at USPS facilities.
The BEVs ordered are Ford E-Transit vans, with delivery of the vehicles aligning with the government body’s vehicle electrification strategy announced in December 2022.
Three suppliers were awarded contracts to provide EV charging stations, with USPS planning to begin works on the charging infrastructure across a minimum of 75 locations within the next 12 months, before moving on to installations across its additional sites thereafter.
The strategy sets out intentions to acquire a 75% electric fleet of Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDVs) within the next five years. After 2026, it plans for 100% of NGDVs to be electric.
Louis DeJoy, postmaster general, said: “We are moving forward with our plans to simultaneously improve our service, reduce our cost, grow our revenue, and improve the working environment for our employees. Electrification of our vehicle fleet is now an important component of these initiatives.
“We have developed a strategy that mitigates both cost and risk of deployment – which enables execution on this initiative to begin now.”
USPS investment in vehicles is expected to reach US$9.6bn (£8bn), US$3bn (£2.5bn) of which comes from Inflation Reduction ACT (IRA) funds. Becoming law on 16 August 2022, the IRA directs new federal spending toward reducing carbon emissions, among other projects.
What’s more, USPS anticipates that this investment in both vehicles and infrastructure will result in a total of 66,230 electric delivery vehicles and an overall acquisition of 106,000 delivery vehicles by 2028.
