Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor lack of gas will stay these NGDVs from carbon-free completion of their appointed rounds
The United States Postal Service announced today that"at least" three quarters of its planned fleet of next generation delivery vehicles would be electric, marking a sharp departure from fossil fuel-heavy fleet plans announced in 2021.
Beginning in 2026, the USPS said all the NGDVs it purchased would be electric, leaving remaining internal combustion members of its fleet to presumably age out., the USPS said it would purchase 60,000 purpose-built NGDVs between now and 2028, 45,000 of which will be battery electric vehicles . The Postal Service said it also plans to buy 21,000 additional commercial off-the-shelf BEVs in the same time period, bringing its total BEV purchases to"at least," 66,000 vehicles.
As an added perk for mail carriers suffering in the heat, the USPS said the vehicles would"feature air conditioning and advanced safety technology and are more suited to modern day operational requirements." As part of its plans to retire the aging portions of its 220,000 vehicle fleet, the USPS said it plans to buy a total of 106,000 vehicles between now and 2028. With 66,000 planned BEV purchases, the remaining 40,000 vehicles - newly added to an agency with a tendency to hang on to vehicles for 30 years - will be internal combustion.
"The $3 billion provided by Congress has significantly reduced the risk associated with accelerating the implementation of a nationwide infrastructure necessary to electrify our delivery fleet," DeJoy said.