Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
USPS contracts for 9,250 Ford EVs
Postal Service plans to spend $9.6 billion on fleet upgrade
The United States Postal Service awarded a competitive contract Tuesday to Ford Motor Co. for 9,250 electric vehicles.
USPS plans to spend around $9.6 billion overall on vehicles, the agency said, but it’s unclear immediately how much the contract with Ford will be. USPS did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
The Ford E-Transit vehicles will be produced in Kansas City, Mo., and will begin being delivered in December.
The agency also plans to buy 9,250 gas-powered vehicles from Stellantis NV, alongside the EVs, “to fill the urgent need for vehicles,” according to a USPS news release. Three-quarters of the agency’s vehicle acquisitions over the next five years will be EVs, and 100% of its acquisitions after 2026 will be EVs, according to USPS.
Combined, the Ford and Stellantis purchases total $1 billion.
USPS also awarded competitive contracts to three suppliers for more than 14,000 EV charging stations to recharge delivery vehicles at postal facilities.
“We are moving forward with our plans to simultaneously improve our service, reduce our cost, grow our revenue, and improve the working environment for our employees,” Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a statement. “Electrification of our vehicle fleet is now an important component of these initiatives.”
The agency has not yet determined where the new vehicles will be deployed and says chargers will go to at least 75 locations within the next year.
The Inflation Reduction Act appropriated additional funding for USPS to buy EVs. The agency estimates the funding will help them get 66,230 electric delivery vehicles as part of an overall purchase of 106,000 new delivery trucks.