The United States Postal Service (USPS) has awarded contracts for the purchase of 9,250 battery electric vehicles (BEVs). To support the introduction of these electric vehicles (EVs), it has also ordered over 14,000 EV charging stations to be deployed at USPS facilities.
The BEVs ordered are Ford E-Transit vans. Delivery of the vehicles is expected to commence in December 2023.
Three suppliers were awarded contracts to provide EV charging stations. USPS ‘plans to begin building out its charging infrastructure across a minimum of 75 locations within the next 12 months, and thereafter to continue the infrastructure build-out in the succeeding years at many additional facilities’.
This electrification of its fleet is in line with USPS’ vehicle electrification strategy, announced in December 2022. 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.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy 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$9.6 billion, $3 billion 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 amongst other key targets like lowering healthcare costs.
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.
