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    1. e-Mobility

    U.S. Postal Service upping Fleet Electrification via 66,000 new EVs by 2028

    Dec. 20, 2022
    Once completed, the e-mobility shift would include more than half of the 106,000 vehicles the Postal Service plans to buy in the next six years
    Image credit USPS
    Usps Vehicles 63a21f57507f1

    E will be a key letter carried by the U.S. Postal Service in coming years.

    The USPS reported Tuesday it now expects to acquire at least 66,000 battery electric delivery vehicles between this year and 2028. Once completed, the e-mobility shift would include more than half of the 106,000 next-gen delivery vehicles the Postal Service plans to buy in the next six years, according to the release.

    The nation’s primary letter carrier and oldest federal fleet is still exploring the feasibility of going 100-percent electric, although all of the acquisitions from 2026-28 will be EVs.

    “We have a statutory requirement to deliver mail and packages to 163 million addresses six days per week and to cover our costs in doing so—that is our mission,” Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a statement. “If we can achieve those objectives in a more environmentally responsible way, we will do so.”

    The USPS worked with Biden Administration senior energy adviser John Podesta on the path to the EV acquisitions. Congress will fund about $3 billion as part of its Congressionally approved infrastructure legislation, as well as the Inflation Reduction Act funding.

    That federal money “has significantly reduced the risk associated with accelerating the implementation of a nationwide infrastructure necessary to electrify our delivery fleet,” DeJoy added in a statement. “While most of the electric vehicle fund will continue to come from Postal Service revenues, we are grateful for the confidence that Congress and the (Biden) Administration have placed in us to build and acquire what has the potential to become the largest electric vehicle fleet in the nation.”

    The USPS has been busy strengthening its e-mobility position over 2022. In February, the service announced a commitment to make battery electric vehicles at least 10 percent of its next-generation fleet acquisitions.

    A month later, the USPA announce a purchase order for 50,000 next-gen delivery vehicles from Oshkosh Defense. Those include 20 percent BEVs.

    New next-gen delivery vehicles, including EVs, are expected to start serving postal routes in late 2023.

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.