USPS to Install Thousand of Chargers to Support Electrified Delivery Fleet
The United States Postal Service has been moving toward electrification for a while now, though it’s not made the progress some had initially hoped. The EVs are coming, however, and the USPS is looking to support that fleet with thousands of chargers located at post offices across the country.
The USPS will convert 400 post offices into hubs that can deploy EVs along delivery routes. Working with Siemens, ChargePoint, and others, the government agency will install 14,000 chargers at strategic locations. The USPS agreed to buy 9,250 Ford E-Transit vans, which offer significantly improved capability over the now-antique Grumman LLV mail delivery vehicles.
Almost 12,000 more EVs will join the fleet by 2028, and the USPS said it will add another 45,000 electric next-generation delivery vehicles by 2028. At the end of the day, the $40 billion effort will yield one of the country’s largest EV fleets and should significantly change how the USPS does business.
While EVs aren’t the best for road trips, their torque and near-silent operation make them ideal for delivery routes and in-town driving. The E-Transit is a huge improvement over the current mail vehicles, and almost any vehicle would bring more comfort and safety than the boxy, loud Grummans roaming our streets today.
[Image: Jonathon Weiss via Shutterstock]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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Just another colossal waste of taxpayer money. Meanwhile, my stamp prices keep rising to ridiculous levels.
Maybe it is my fault that you can't find it today, but an early article in support of spending billions on EV mail trucks contained the hard numbers on the post offices' van use. I crunched the numbers and found out that on average a postal vehicle covers far less than 3,000 miles a year. The fuel consumption and cost per mile are incidental compared to the cost of doing some big dumb progressive thing involving social engineering. They should run the LLVs until they can't be repaired.
Still can't deliver the mail on time no matter the vehicle. 🚚🚚🚚
My grid hurts!
Good luck with installing charger locations at leased locations with aging infrastructure.
Perhaps USPS would have better start modernizing it's Post offices to meet future needs. Of course, USPS has no money for anything.