The United States Postal Service (USPS) is turning to other electric vans, apart from its own next generation delivery vehicle. The company announced its own home-grown delivery vehicle a few years ago and will be capable of using petrol or electric motors. However, the USPS is going to be pinning everything on that one vehicle, as this week it has announced it’ll be purchasing 9,250 Ford electric vans, specifically the Ford E-Transit. The first units of the fleet will be delivered in December this year, with the full rollout to be completed by the end of 2024.
The new Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV) will be used. The USPS will be purchasing around 60,000 of them by 2028, but this new announcement for the use of Ford E-Transit will be part of a plan to purchase pre-made EVs. In time, the USPS will purchase 21,000 EVs from other companies, that won’t be the NGDV.
The new investments in electric vehicles, will cost around $9.6 billion, with $3 billion in funding, coming from the Inflation Reduction Act.