The U.S. Postal Service committed yesterday to buying a much larger portion of electric mail trucks than previously planned, handing a victory to environmental groups, auto unions and states that filed lawsuits claiming the original proposal unnecessarily favored gas cars and did not undergo adequate federal review.
USPS said that at least 50 percent of its first $3 billion, 50,000-vehicle purchase would now be battery electrics, up from the 20 percent it had initially slated. The shift is viewed as significant for the trajectory of EVs, considering that the Postal Service’s 212,000 vans constitute about a third of all federal vehicles and make up the largest civilian fleet in the world, according to the Government Accountability Office.
In a record of decision issued in February, USPS had originally planned to buy up to 165,000 “next-generation” delivery trucks — meaning they would be custom-designed to replace the Postal Service’s aging fleet — of which no more than 10 percent would be battery electrics.
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