- The U.S. Postal Service plans to spend $9.6 billion to modernize its fleet of delivery trucks with 66,000 electric vehicles by 2028.
- The USPS said that its investment is expected to reach $9.6 billion, about a third of which comes from the Inflation Reduction Act.
On Tuesday, The U.S. Postal Service said that it intends to purchase at least 66,000 electric delivery vehicles to transform its delivery fleet. The electric cars would amount to more than half the 106,000 vehicles it plans to acquire for delivery between now and 2028. The new cars will start to replace its ageing fleet of 220,000 vehicles. The pledge comes after public pressure from environmental groups challenging the USPS to abandon gas-powered cars.
In April, environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the USPS for its failure to conduct an adequate environmental analysis before deciding to replace its vehicle fleet with more “fuel-guzzling combustion mail trucks,” according to a press release from the Sierra Club. Katherine García, the director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, said, “Instead of receiving pollution with their daily mail packages, communities across the U.S. will get the relief of cleaner air”.
The USPS said that its investment is expected to reach $9.6 billion, about a third of which comes from the Inflation Reduction Act. The funding will help the Postal Service build what has the potential to be one of the largest electric vehicle fleets in the country. Also, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a statement, “We have a statutory requirement to deliver mail and packages to 163 million addresses six days per week and to cover our costs in doing so — that is our mission.”