America Postal Service (USPS) this week introduced plans to purchase 9,250 Ford E-Transit electrical vans, which is able to get the ball rolling on electrification whereas the Postal Service waits for its custom-designed electrical supply vans.
The primary of the Ford vans are scheduled to reach in December of this yr, with deliveries persevering with by way of 2024, and will probably be accompanied by the deployment of 14,000 charging stations, in line with a USPS press launch. Particular areas are to be decided, the Postal Service added, noting that the off-the-shelf autos are left-hand drive, and thus will not be appropriate in the entire identical conditions as commonplace right-hand-drive mail vehicles.
“Ford is proud to assist the US Postal Service in delivering a extra sustainable future for America by electrifying their fleet with over 9,200 E-Transit vans by way of the top of 2024,” CEO Jim Farley mentioned in an announcement.
2022 Ford E-Transit
Ford charges the E-Transit at about 126 miles of vary, and in a fast spin it proved to be remarkably nimble for the scale and well-suited to last-mile supply wants. The E-Transit is already being inbuilt Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, permitting the Postal Service so as to add autos extra rapidly.
The Postal Service in 2021 unveiled its custom-designed Subsequent Technology Supply Automobile (NGDV), designed to switch decades-old mail vehicles. They are going to be constructed by protection contractor Oshkosh. Nonetheless, the Postal Service now says the primary of those autos remains to be years away.
The selection of E-Transit vans as an interim resolution helps solidify the Postal Service’s beforehand shaky dedication to EVs. The NGDV is designed for both electrical or internal-combustion powertrains, however when it was unveiled the Postal Service mentioned solely 10% could be electrical —and that the electrical model hadn’t even but been engineered.
USPS Subsequent Technology Supply Automobiles (NGDV) – Oshkosh Protection
That led to a lot outcry, together with a lawsuit from states and environmental teams, in addition to criticism from the Biden administration, which goals to make all federal car purchases electrical. USPS officers initially caught to the unique plan, nevertheless, which critics mentioned was based mostly on flawed evaluation.
The Postal Service now goals to solely purchase electrical supply autos from 2026. Beneath a plan introduced in December 2022, the company plans so as to add a 75%-electric NGDV fleet, with solely electrical variations of those autos bought after 2026. The Postal Service mentioned this week that it plans to commit $9.6 billion in funding for these purchases, together with $3 billion from Inflation Discount Act (IRA) funds.