USPS gives in to pressure, boosts plan for electric vehicles to half of future fleet

Pressured by the White House, Congress, and environmental groups, the United States Postal Service (USPS) now plans for electric vehicles to comprise half of its future mail-truck fleet.

The Postal Service now plans for 25,000 EVs from an initial purchase of 50,000 new Next Generation Deliver Vehicle (NGDV) mail trucks from Oshkosh Defense, according to a press release. Officials originally planned to make just 10% of the NGDV fleet electric initially, claiming additional vehicles could be converted to electric power in the future.

USPS Next Generation Delivery Vehicle – Oshkosh Defense

In addition to the NGDVs, which are slated to replace aged LLV mail trucks that have been the backbone of the USPS fleet for decades, the Postal Service also plans to buy 34,500 \”commercial off-the-shelf\” vehicles to supplement the purpose-built NGDVs. That order will include as many EVs \”as are commercially available, and satisfy operational needs,\” the release said.

Between the NGDVs and stock commercial vehicles, the USPS expects 40% of the vehicles in its latest round of procurements to be EVs.

USPS Motiv Power e450 delivery truck for Fresno, California

This is the second time the USPS has upped the number of electric NGDVs. In March, it boosted the planned number from 5,000 to roughly 10,000 units. That was after the White House and EPA asked the USPS to reconsider its initial decision to only make 10% of the fleet electric. And it led environmental groups and more than a dozen states to sue the USPS.

As the Sierra Club points out, public pressure worked, and more is needed. The Biden administration has also targeted that all light-duty federal fleet vehicles be electric by 2027, so more electric USPS vehicles will satisfy both public opinion and current White House policy.