The United States Postal Service (USPS) has committed to a new $9.6 billion five-year plan for fleet electrification. The first units have been built and installed at the South Atlanta Sorting and Delivery Center. This is just the beginning, as hundreds of new stations across the country will be installed this year to power the electric vehicles (EVs) that will eventually carry the mail.
The USPS has a larger investment strategy of $40 billion to upgrade and improve the processing, transportation, and delivery of mail. Part of this investment is dedicated to bringing the vehicle fleet into the 21st century. The USPS recently showcased new battery-powered and domestically manufactured commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) delivery vehicles that will be integrated into their EV fleet. The initial rollout will start in Georgia and then expand to other areas of the country. While some vehicles were built by Ford, the USPS plans to add 21,000 COTS EVs from various manufacturers to their fleet.
Among the vehicles, 9,250 will come from Ford in the form of E-Transit vans. These vans offer significant advantages over the USPS’s current Grumman LLV delivery vehicles. One of the key advantages is the cargo space, with E-Transit vehicles offering three times the capacity of the Grumman LLV vehicles. This larger cargo space will not only allow for the transportation of more mail and packages but also improve delivery operations by reducing inefficient transportation and eliminating the need for second trips to deliver high volumes of packages.
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