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The big picture: The US Postal Service operates the government's largest fleet of vehicles so it's no surprise that under the Biden Administration, it's moving toward an all-electric fleet. However, reaching this point wasn't an easy task for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who initially struggled to justify the cost of switching to EVs.
The first Postal Service EVs are hitting the streets, much to the delight of postal workers tired of the current fleet of trucks, some of which are over 30 years old. Their complaints are understandable: their vehicles lack modern safety features, often catch fire, don't have sufficient cargo capacity, and, perhaps worst of all, are not equipped with air conditioning.
The new mail trucks are part of a 10-year, $40 billion transformation led by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. This initiative also includes renovating aging facilities and overhauling the processing and transportation network.
The vans have all the amenities the old fleet lacked, plus one more critical feature: they are electric. This marks a significant development for the Postal Service, which initially found the cost of converting to electric vehicles too steep for its already overburdened budget.
However, USPS now plans to procure a total of 21,000 commercial off-the-shelf EVs and add at least 45,000 battery-electric Next Generation Delivery Vehicles by 2028, bringing the total number of EVs in the delivery fleet to more than 66,000. The new trucks are being built by Oshkosh Defense in South Carolina.
In addition, hundreds of new sorting and delivery centers across the country will be equipped with charging stations, powering what is set to become the nation's largest EV fleet. USPS has partnered with Siemens, Rexel/ChargePoint, and Blink to manufacture its first 14,000 EV chargers. These stations will be capable of charging Postal Service EVs overnight, ensuring they are ready for the next day's deliveries.
DeJoy initially proposed that 90 percent of the next-generation vehicles in the first wave would be gas-powered, sparking outrage among environmentalists, who eventually filed lawsuits demanding the Postal Service electrify its fleet.
"Everybody went nuts," DeJoy told The Associated Press.
The primary issue was the high cost of the vehicles and the expense of installing thousands of charging stations. However, after a meeting with John Podesta, the Biden Administration's lead environmental adviser, DeJoy struck a deal in which the government provided $3 billion to the Postal Service, partially for the installation of electric charging stations.
Finally, in December 2022, DeJoy was able to announce that the Postal Service was buying 106,000 vehicles, including 60,000 next-generation vans – 45,000 of which would be electric models – along with 21,000 other EVs. He also pledged that starting in 2026, all new vehicle purchases would be electric.
Now, the agency expects to reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030. This summer, the Postal Service also received a Presidential Federal Sustainability Award, capping off what DeJoy called "an interesting journey."