© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: An worker of the Ford Motor Firm makes his technique to work following the corporate’s announcement to construct future electrical vehicles in Cologne, Germany, February 17, 2021. Oliver Berg/Pool through REUTERS/File Photograph2/2
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mentioned on Tuesday it plans to purchase 9,250 Ford E-Transit battery electrical autos beginning later this 12 months and also will purchase an equal variety of gasoline-powered fashions from Chrysler-parent Stellantis.
USPS additionally mentioned it was ordering greater than 14,000 charging stations to be deployed at its amenities after it introduced in December mentioned it will greater than double its deliberate electrical supply autos purchases, and can purchase at the very least 66,000 electrical autos via 2028.
Congress in August gave USPS $3 billion as a part of a $430 billion local weather invoice to purchase electrical autos and charginginfrastructure.
USPS mentioned it should additionally purchase 9,250 2023 and 2024 mannequin 12 months Ram ProMaster vans from Chrysler-parent Stellantis “to fill the pressing want for autos.”
USPS mentioned the full for Ford and Stellantis contracts was $1.027 billion.
Environmental group Earthjustice praised the Ford buy however mentioned “the Postal Service ought to have completed its environmental overview earlier than additionally sinking thousands and thousands in funding in the identical variety of combustion mail vans that can pollute our neighborhoods for many years.”
The automakers didn’t instantly remark.
In December 2021, President Joe Biden signed an government order directing light-duty autos acquired by the federal government be emission-free by 2027. That order didn’t apply to the Postal Service, an unbiased federal company.
Supply of Ford EVs inbuilt Missouri is about to start in December. They’re a part of the 21,000 autos included in USPS car acquisition plan introduced in December.
USPS awarded contracts to a few suppliers totaling $260 million for the acquisition of greater than 14,000 charging stations – Blink Charging, Siemens and Rexall USA.
In December, USPS mentioned it expects to spend $9.6 billion on car acquisitions via 2028.
USPS mentioned next-generation car acquisitions delivered in 2026 and past are anticipated to be all electrical. The fashionable autos will substitute many 30-year-old USPS vans that lack air luggage and different security gear in addition to air-con.
