The United States Postal Service (USPS) will only purchase electric vehicles (EVs) after 2026, following the announcement of plans to transition to an electrified fleet.
This includes the acquisition of 9,250 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) as well as more than 14,000 charging stations that will take place through 2025. About 75% of the acquisition of the electrified fleet will take place over the next five years.
The acquisition of the EV structure is part of a larger electrification plan by the government. The USPS total investments in vehicles is expected to reach $9.6 billion, which includes $3 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding.
The rollout of the charging infrastructure building will take place across a minimum of 75 locations within the next 12 months and will continue to build out in the succeeding years at many additional facilities.
Why it matters
General Motors is targeting 40% of its cars to be electric by the end of 2025 and will invest some $27 billion on its EV technology during this same time frame. Ford and other automotive OEMs are following suit as they are looking to hit government and regional mandates, but also due to increased consumer demand for EVs.
However, the move to electrification is not just automotive OEMs, but the government is transitioning as well. President Joe Biden announced two years ago that he wants to replace all U.S. government vehicles with electrified models. A survey from 2019 found that the U.S. government owns 645,000 vehicles. Currently, only 3,215 of these are electric.
Biden also plans to build 550,000 EV charging stations and spend more on clean energy.
Private companies are also expanding their own networks as the need for more EV charging stations will be necessary to handle the expected surge in demand due to the transition to electrified models.
This includes Electrify America, which saw a fivefold increase in EV charging sessions in 2021 and has plans to add more than 1,800 total charging stations with more than 10,000 chargers in North America by 2026.
EV charging is also being expanded to more retail outlets like Starbucks, Walgreens and Bridgestone stores.
EV awards
The contract to purchase 9,250 BEVs will come from Ford, which will build e-transit, left hand drive (LHD) BEVs. These vehicles, which will begin delivery in December, will be 100% electric and will be part of the 21,000 consumer off the shelf (COTS) vehicles the Postal Service has acquired.
The vehicles will be manufactured in Kansas City, Missouri.
The charging station infrastructure contracts will be given to three suppliers to purchase more than 14,000 charging stations to establish an initial and ongoing EV supply equipment (EVSE) inventory. This inventory is the charging station hardware and software needed to support EV charging at the facilities from which the delivery vehicles will operate.
