What’s Happening: The United States Postal Service (USPS) has announced that it has awarded contracts for 9,250 commercially available left-hand drive (LHD) battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and over 14,000 charging stations to support its vehicle electrification strategy. The USPS has committed to a total investment of $9.6 billion in vehicles, including $3 billion from Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds. The December 2022 plan announced the acquisition of a 75 percent electric fleet of Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDVs) over the next five years, with 100 percent of acquisitions after 2026 being electric.
Why It Matters: This announcement represents a significant milestone in the USPS’s ongoing commitment to electrifying America’s largest and oldest federal fleet. The awards will enable the USPS to begin building out its charging infrastructure across a minimum of 75 locations within the next 12 months, and continue the infrastructure build-out in the succeeding years as part of its delivery vehicle electrification strategy. The USPS expects this commitment to result in a total of 66,230 electric delivery vehicles and an overall acquisition of 106,000 delivery vehicles by 2028.
Key Points:
- The USPS has awarded contracts for 9,250 commercially available left-hand drive (LHD) battery electric vehicles (BEVs).
- The USPS has committed to a total investment of $9.6 billion in vehicles, including $3 billion from Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds.
- The USPS plans to begin building out its charging infrastructure across a minimum of 75 locations within the next 12 months, and continue the infrastructure build-out in the succeeding years as part of its delivery vehicle electrification strategy.
- The USPS expects this commitment to result in a total of 66,230 electric delivery vehicles and an overall acquisition of 106,000 delivery vehicles by 2028.
- The awards are contingent on the USPS’s satisfactory completion of National Environmental Policy Act requirements.
Bottom Line: The United States Postal Service’s announcement of contracts for 9,250 electric delivery vehicles and over 14,000 charging stations is a significant step forward in its commitment to electrifying America’s largest and oldest federal fleet. This investment in electric vehicles and charging infrastructure will help the USPS to reduce costs, improve service, and grow revenue while also supporting its mission to provide reliable and efficient delivery service to the American people.
