Despite beforehand saying that it might solely order 5,000 all-electric fashions of its next-gen postal truck, as we speak the USPS announced that it is doubling that determine to only over 10,000.
Produced by Oshkosh Defense, the NGDV (Next Generation Delivery Vehicle) is slated to turn into the brand new workhorse of the USPS, with the primary batch of vans scheduled to hit the street someday in 2023. And as a part of the USPS’ efforts to improve its getting older fleet, the service positioned an preliminary order of fifty,000 automobiles that includes a mixture of gasoline and electric-powered vans.
However, after studying that solely 10 p.c of these vans could be EVs, the EPA and the Biden Administration requested the USPS to rethink the distribution of its order. So now the USPS has elevated the variety of new electrical postal vans on order to 10,019 BEVs, which is a big enchancment, however nonetheless within the minority in comparison with gas-powered fashions.
Postmaster Lous Dejoy says “Today’s order demonstrates, as we have now mentioned all alongside, that the Postal Service is totally dedicated to the inclusion of electrical automobiles as a big a part of our supply fleet regardless that the funding will value greater than an inside combustion engine automobile. That mentioned, as we have now additionally acknowledged repeatedly, we should make fiscally prudent selections within the wanted introduction of a brand new automobile fleet. We will proceed to search for alternatives to extend the electrification of our supply fleet in a accountable method, according to our working technique, the deployment of acceptable infrastructure, and our monetary situation, which we anticipate to proceed to enhance as we pursue our plan.”
Upgrades on the NGDV embrace air-con, built-in 360-degree cameras, higher braking and traction management, and far improved security due to issues like air baggage and a brand new collision avoidance system. That mentioned, with the USPS having over 190,000 vans at the moment in service, this preliminary 50,000 order solely represents a fraction of what the service might want to totally modernize its fleet. So whereas the combo of gasoline and electrical NGDVs may not be supreme proper now, there needs to be room to broaden electrification sooner or later.
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