Larisa Manescu, larisa.manescu@sierraclub.org
Zoe Woodcraft, zwoodcraft@earthjustice.org
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, after a year and a half of significant public pressure over the Postal Service’s unpopular and short-sighted decision to buy hundreds of thousands of gas-powered trucks and stick to a fleet of merely 10 percent electric vehicles, and then 40 percent, the agency announced a major reversal to clean up the whole of the delivery truck fleet. In today’s announcement, the Postal Service committed to ensuring 75 percent of new vehicles purchased in the next several years, around 66,000 delivery vehicles, will be electric. By 2026, that will increase to 100 percent of purchases.
The funding comes from $3 billion in the Inflation Reduction Act ($1.3 for vehicles, $1.7 for charging stations) and another $6.6 billion from the USPS that will mainly go toward heavy-duty trucks and other non-delivery vehicles, for a total of almost $10 billion to electrify the largest civilian fleet in the federal government.
In April, several environmental groups and over a dozen states took the Postal Service to court over its plan to double down on fossil fuel trucks.
“Finally we’re seeing the common-sense decision to move the government’s largest fleet of vehicles to all-electric, a massive win for climate and public health,” said Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign. “Instead of receiving pollution with their daily mail packages, communities across the US will get the relief of cleaner air. The way we get to a 100% electric fleet matters – these vehicles must be union-built and made with materials from a clean supply chain.”
“Every neighborhood, every household in America deserves to have electric USPS trucks delivering clean air with their mail, and today’s announcement takes us almost all the way there. The Postal Service’s shift to only purchasing electric mail trucks within five years is the marker of a sea change in the federal fleet as the country looks to an electric future,” said Adrian Martinez, senior attorney on Earthjustice’s Right to Zero campaign. "We’re grateful to the Biden Administration for stepping in to put us on course for an electric future."
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.