The United States Postal Service (USPS) plans to deploy more than 66 000 electric vehicles by 2028. This will make it one of the largest electric vehicle fleets in the country. The company announced this on Tuesday.

The vehicles purchased under this plan will replace the aging fleet of more than 220 000 vehicles, many of which are 30 years old.

The initiative is boosted by the Postal Service ‘Delivering for America’ network modernization and receives 3 billion dollars in congressional funding appropriated under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Domestic manufacturers

The Postal Service anticipates at least 60 000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV), of which at least 75% (45 000) will be battery-electric.

A total of 21 000 additional commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) vehicles are also expected to be battery-electric. When purchasing COTS vehicles, the Postal Service will prefer domestic production.

The 60 000 delivery vehicles, for example, will be bought from Oshkosh Defence, a Wisconsin-based company that manufactures military vehicles. The 21 000 additional TVs will be bought from other manufacturers.

Largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world

“We have a legal obligation to deliver mail and packages six days a week to 163 million addresses,” says Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. “If we can achieve those objectives in a more environmentally responsible way, we will do so.”

USPS plans to stop buying gas-powered delivery trucks after 2026. With more than 231 000 vehicles, USPS has one of the largest civilian vehicle fleets in the world.

Pressure from the Biden administration

The fleet modernization and greening initiative come with a view to reducing costs and carbon emissions. The USPS aims to reduce inefficient transport and improve distribution, which will require far less air freight and far fewer truck journeys. In fact, the USPS has not only the largest but also the oldest federal fleet in the United States.

In total, USPS would spend nearly 10 billion dollars to create one of the largest electric truck fleets in the country.

In February, USPS announced that it would only replace 10% of the fleet with EVs. The announcement triggered a fierce backlash from the Biden administration and attorneys general from 16 states, among others, along with five environmental groups and the United Auto Workers, sued the company over the decision.

UPSP was forced to back down and thus came up with a new plan, also because it had since become clear that Congress had passed the Inflation Reduction Act, a tax and climate change law that included 3 billion dollars for UPSP to electrify its fleet.