Ford wins US Postal Service contract to supply 9,250 E-Transits as electric mail trucks
The US Postal Service will purchase 9,250 off-the-shelf Ford E-Transits in its push to move towards electric delivery vehicles, with deliveries beginning at the end of this year.
USPS has recently been flirting with electrification as it plans to replace its 30+ year-old fleet of Grumman LLVs. The bidding process took several years, and originally the contract was offered to Oshkosh, a defense contractor, with a commitment to purchase a measly 10% electric vehicles. The other 90% would be gas-guzzling trucks which get as little as 8.6mpg, about the same as the original Grumman LLVs.
The decision was met with much backlash, with lawsuits from several organizations and was questioned by Congress. Over time, this pressure caused USPS to gradually increase the intended electric percentage.
Then the Inflation Reduction Act was passed, with $3 billion in funding specifically for USPS electrification. As of December 2022, the plan stands at buying 100% electric trucks by 2026, and 75% from now until then.
But beyond the planned electric mix, there was also the question of which vehicles would be purchased. Several bids were for purpose-built vehicles, but after Oshkosh’s bid was accepted, more questions arose over whether purpose-built vehicles from a single manufacturer would allow the USPS to scale implementation quickly enough.
Many thought that it would be reasonable to include off-the-shelf delivery vehicles in the mix, such that USPS wouldn’t be reliant on a single manufacturer, and could purchase trucks that are already in production. So, as part of USPS’ December plan, it announced it would purchase 21,000 “commercial off-the-shelf” electric vehicles to help accelerate electrification plans.
Today’s announcement is the first of those contracts, which has been won by Ford. The 9,250 vehicles supplied by Ford will be part of the announced 21,000 off-the-shelf purchased by USPS.
In addition, USPS announced today that it will purchase 14,000 EV charging stations to be installed at its locations to charge future electric trucks.
The USPS is the federal government’s largest fleet, consisting of about 225,000 vehicles, which President Biden promised to electrify just days after becoming president.
Electrek’s Take
Despite our initial disappointment with USPS’ first steps in their electrification announcement, it feels like we’ve finally gotten to the correct endpoint.
While not every delivery truck will be electric – there will still be perhaps 10-20% of the fleet running on gas, once all these purchases shake out over the course of the next several years – the USPS will be electric-first and that’s just what we need. Postal workers won’t have to deal with stinky shaky old vehicles and all of us will get better air in our communities and less climate emissions.
It’s understandable that a few trucks may remain on gas, those with difficult routes or where electrification isn’t quite financially viable due to exceptional circumstances. But considering Svalbard Post has figured out how to go all-electric within the Arctic Circle, we think those use cases will be vanishingly few.
So today’s announcement is a big step forward for USPS, a big win for Ford, and a big win for all of us.
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Hyundai is about to launch a new electric SUV in China. With its big debut coming up, Hyundai just dropped a sneak peek, and it looks like it could be the IONIQ 4. Check it out for yourself in the video below.
Is Hyundai teasing the IONIQ 4?
We caught our first glimpse of the new EV model last month after Beijing Hyundai released a few official “spy” photos.
Despite the camouflage, you can see a few design elements, like a light bar across the front, slim LED headlights, and a closed-off grille. At first, it almost looks like a smaller version of the IONIQ 9, Hyundai’s first three-row electric SUV, but with a much sportier, shaped profile.
Beijing Hyundai released a new teaser for the upcoming electric SUV this week. The video shows “a wave of high-end operations” as the vehicle dances across the snow.
The video highlights features like real-time torque control, high-speed cornering, and the SUV’s impressive body control while driving around cones.
Hyundai’s new electric SUV is being called “OE” internally, according to The Korean Car Blog, suggesting it could be an IONIQ model.
All other Hyundai IONIQ EV models were also codenamed with an “E” internally, which is raising speculation that this could be the IONIQ 4.
Like most global OEMs, Hyundai is fighting to compete in an intense Chinese EV market, which is dominated by domestic automakers like BYD.
Hyundai opened its first overseas R&D center last year in China to spearhead its comeback. It will work with local suppliers and tech companies to develop EVs designed for Chinese buyers. The new electric SUV is expected to launch in China later this year, followed by three new energy vehicles, including EVs and EREVs.
Beijing Hyundai will release more information on April 16, with the electric SUV set to “challenge the limit of driving performance.”
What do you think of Hyundai’s new electric SUV? Is this the IONIQ 4? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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Charge point provider char.gy has secured a £130 million contract to install 6,000 curbside EV chargers for Brighton and Hove City Council (BHCC) – the UK’s largest installation of its kind.
London-based char.gy has also been awarded a 15-year contract to operate and maintain the charging network.
Installing Level 2 chargers curbside, where most drivers in the UK park, will enable more people to take advantage of cheaper charging rates while juicing up their EVs overnight. (charg.gy’s pay as you go night tariff, between midnight and 7 am, is £0.39/kWh, compared to its £0.59/kWh day tariff.)
John Lewis, chief executive of char.gy, said the project is “a huge moment for the UK and its EV ambitions. This partnership alone will empower thousands of residents to confidently make the switch to electric vehicles, knowing they have easy access to chargers.”
Brighton and Hove City Council is among the first to tap into the government’s Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund, designed to help English local authorities roll out charging solutions for residents without off-street parking. Future of Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood said making EV charging as accessible as possible is “crucial to making the switch to electric a success.”
The UK now has over 75,000 public EV chargers, according to the Department for Transport—and it looks like the country’s on pace to hit its 2030 target. Back in December, the National Audit Office said the rollout is “on track” to meet the DfT’s estimate that at least 300,000 chargers will be needed by the end of the decade.
Read more: Meet the UK’s largest solar + storage EV charging ‘Superhub’
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