Any new (or nearly new) technology will often need heavyweight support to get traction. While battery-electric vehicle (BEV) technology is now well on the road to general acceptance, it doesn’t do it any harm when a true heavyweight gets on board, and they don’t get much bigger than the United States Postal Service (USPS).

The USPS says it is planning to acquire at least 66,000 BEV delivery vehicles as part of a 106,000-vehicle acquisition plan for deliveries between now and 2028. The vehicles purchased as part of this anticipated plan will begin to replace the Postal Service’s delivery fleet of more than 220,000 vehicles.

The Postal Service anticipates at least 60,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV), of which at least 75 per cent (45,000) will be battery electric. 21,000 additional commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) vehicles are also expected to be battery electric,. The Postal Service also anticipates including internal combustion vehicles necessary to meet immediate vehicle replacement needs, although it said that acquisitions delivered in 2026 through to 2028 are expected to be 100 per cent electric.

The new vehicles will, unlike the vehicles they are replacing, feature air conditioning and advanced safety technology and are more suited to modern day operational requirements. For any COTS vehicles purchased, the Postal Service will include a preference for domestically built vehicles.

It was back in February 2021 that the USPS announced it had awarded the company Oshkosh Defence a contract to produce the NGDV, with up to 165,000 vehicles to be built and available in BEV and petrol engine variants. Since then, the requirements around the number of BEV variants to be provided has changed. Initially, a commitment was given for at least 10 per cent of the new fleet to be BEV. In early 2022, a purchase order of 50,000 was made, including 20 per cent BEVs.

Total investment is expected to reach $9.6 billion ($AU13.3 billion) with the new acquisition plan made possible in part, USPS said, because of $3 billion ($AU4.22 billion) in funding via the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

Source: Motor Trader e-Magazine (February 2023)

7 February 2023