The USPS goes electric

Future. The United States Postal Service plans to replace their Long Life Vehicles (yes, those cute mail trucks we’ve all come to love) with “environmentally friendly” battery electric vehicles (BEVs) — a move following the announcement of their Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) program which pledged to accelerate their electric vehicle strategy.

A new order

The Postal Service placed its first delivery order with Oshkosh, Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense, and has identified “specific delivery routes that present the best initial application for electric vehicles,” according to the USPS announcement.

• The order will include 50,000 vehicles for a total cost of $2.98 billion.
• The initial order is double the USPS’s previous EV order, increasing from 5,000 to 10,019 BEVs.
• The Postal Service aims to increase the quantity of battery electric vehicles as they refine their network and vehicle operating strategy and if the use case for BEVs continues to improve.

You’ve got mail

“Since I came on board a year and a half ago,” USPS Chief Executive Officer Louis DeJoy said in a statement, “We have continuously evaluated and adjusted our vehicle purchase strategy based on our future network initiatives, ongoing review of BEV application to our operational strategy, and our financial outlook as we undertake our ongoing implementation of the Delivering for America plan.”

The Delivering for America plan, as we remember, was largely a reaction to operating challenges due to the pandemic and delayed delivery times. The plan hopes to not only increase sustainability and introduce new offerings but also give consumers more control over their deliveries.

“Based upon this work and our improving outlook, we have determined that increasing our initial electric vehicle purchase from 5,000 to 10,019 makes good sense from an operational and financial perspective,” DeJoy continued.

It is expected the NGDVs will begin appearing on carrier routes in late 2023. Does this mean Tesla will have some new competition?