U.S. Postal Service to Increase EV Purchases

By Christian Roselund

The U.S. Postal Service has made changes to its plans to retrofit its fleet, planning for at least 40% of an order of 84,500 vehicles to be battery electric vehicles (BEVs). This is an increase from the 20% of an order of 50,000 vehicles previously planned, and comes after complaints by environmental groups, states, and the Biden Administration.

USPS’ fleet of 212,000 vans is the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world, and President Biden has set a goal to move all federal vehicles to BEVs by 2035. Given that many USPS vehicles are more than 30 years old, if USPS buys any new gasoline-powered vehicles they may still be on the road in 2035 and could cause this goal to be missed.

The volume of vehicles which USPS plans to purchase is still small compared to the overall U.S. EV market. U.S. consumers bought 608,000 BEVs and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in 2021, or roughly 4% of the 14.9 million cars, pickups, and sport utility vehicles sold during the year. However, it could spur more production of short-range delivery vehicles that could be used by other fleets, thus increasing overall U.S. electrification.

USPS is holding a public hearing on the new order on August 8, 2022. It plans to take written public comment through August 15. Once finalized, USPS expects the first vehicles to arrive under this new order in 2023.

Source: Postal Service Modernization Enables Expanded Electric Vehicle Opportunity (USPS)