USPS gives in to pressure, pushes electric vehicle production plan to half of future fleet
Pressured by the White House, Congress and environmental groups, the United States Postal Service (USPS) now has plans for electric vehicles to make up half of their future truck fleet.
The Postal Service currently has a plan for 25,000 EVs from an initial purchase of 50,000 new Next Generation mail vans (NGDVs) from Oshkosh Defense, according to a press release. Officials originally planned to make only 10% of the NGDV fleet run on electricity, claiming that additional vehicles could be converted to electric power in the future.
USPS Next Generation Delivery Vehicle – Oshkosh . Defense
In addition to the NGDVs, which are expected to replace the aging LLV mail trucks that have been a mainstay of the USPS fleet for decades, the Post Office also plans to purchase 34,500 “commercially available” vehicles to supplement the fleets. purpose is made. NGDVs. That order will include multiple EVs that are “commercially available and meet operational needs,” the statement said.
Between NGDV and commercial vehicles inventory, USPS expects 40% of vehicles in its latest round of purchases to be EVs.
USPS Motiv Power e450 delivery truck for Fresno, California
This is the second time USPS has increased the number of electric NGDVs. In March, it increased the number as planned from 5,000 to about 10,000 won units. It was after White House and EPA asked the USPS to reconsider its original decision to only build 10% of its fleet on electricity. And it leads environmental groups and more than a dozen states lawsuit USPS.
Like the Sierra Club shown, public pressure has worked, and more is needed. The Biden administration has also targeted all federal light fleet vehicles must go electric by 2027, so more electric USPS vehicles would please both public opinion and current White House policy.
