The US Postal Service’s new EV chargers are right here

The US Postal Service debuted its first EV charging stations in Atlanta, Georgia, immediately, the primary of many anticipated to be deployed at “tons of” of recent sorting and supply facilities this yr. It’s a key step within the Postal Service’s plan to place collectively one of many nation’s greatest EV fleets, made up of greater than 66,000 supply autos.

“The work USPS is doing to affect these autos is making EVs commonplace on each highway and road in our nation,” John Podesta, senior advisor to the president for clear vitality innovation and implementation, mentioned in a press launch.

USPS is engaged on changing round 400 websites into sorting and supply facilities that can grow to be “hubs to deploy EVs alongside native service routes.” The facilities will serve bigger geographic areas than the old-school postal workplaces they exchange. Three totally different corporations — Siemens, Rexel / ChargePoint, and Blink — will manufacture the Postal Service’s first 14,000 EV chargers.

USPS additionally confirmed off its first batch of Ford E-Transit battery-electric autos on the occasion immediately. Final yr, USPS agreed to buy 9,250 of the autos from Ford. It additionally plans to purchase one other 11,750 business off-the-shelf (COTS) autos from different producers.

By 2028, USPS says it’ll deploy one other 45,000 battery-electric “Subsequent Technology Supply Automobiles” (NGDVs) made by the corporate Oshkosh. Altogether, it’ll add as much as a 66,000 electrical automobile fleet.

Lots of the Postal Service’s 217,000 vehicles are greater than three many years outdated, so the fleet is in sore want of an improve. USPS says it’s nonetheless exploring “the feasibility of attaining 100-percent electrification” as a part of a $40 billion technique to replace its operations.