The United States Postal Service recently awarded contracts for 9,250 commercially available left-hand drive (LHD) battery electric vehicles (BEVs), as well as initial orders for more than 14,000 charging stations to be deployed at Postal Service facilities.

Overall, the Postal Service’s total investment in vehicles is expected to reach $9.6 billion, including $3 billion from Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds. The USPS’s plan announced intended acquisitions over the next five years of a 75% electric fleet of Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV). Acquisitions of NGDV after 2026 will be 100% electric. As part of the earliest stages of the delivery vehicle replacement plan, a contract for 9,250 commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) internal combustion engine vehicles will also be concurrently awarded to fill the need for vehicles. The specific locations for deployment of the vehicles and infrastructure have not yet been finalized and will depend on route characteristics, including whether a left-hand drive vehicle is mission-suitable as well as other business considerations.

The Postal Service says it plans to begin building out its charging infrastructure across a minimum of 75 locations within the next 12 months, and thereafter to continue the infrastructure build-out in the succeeding years at many additional facilities as a part of our delivery vehicle electrification strategy.

The Postal Service awarded a contract to purchase a total of 9,250 Ford E-Transit Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs). Delivery of the vehicles is intended to commence in December of this year. These domestically sourced vehicles will be 100% electric. The Ford E-Transit BEVs are manufactured in Kansas City, Missouri.

To support the charging for all the newly purchased electric vehicles — both the recently announced COTS vehicles and future acquisitions including NGDV — the Postal Service awarded competitive contracts to three suppliers for the purchase of more than 14,000 charging stations to establish an initial and ongoing Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) inventory. This EVSE inventory is the charging station hardware and software needed to support EV charging at the facilities from which the delivery vehicles will operate.

The Postal Service says it anticipates that this commitment of funds by 2028 for both vehicles and charging infrastructure will result in a total of 66,230 electric delivery vehicles and an overall acquisition of 106,000 delivery vehicles. All awards in the announcement are contingent on the Postal Service’s satisfactory completion of National Environmental Policy Act requirements.