State-of-the-art S&DCs are local hubs for EV deployment

As part of its 10-year Delivering for America (DFA) plan, the Postal Service expects to convert approximately 400 selected sites into S&DCs nationwide. These centers — which provide faster and more reliable mail and package delivery over a greater geographic area — will serve as the local hubs to deploy EVs along local carrier routes. As of January 2024, the Postal Service has opened 29 S&DCs nationwide.

Building a nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations ready to power USPS EVs

The charging stations displayed at the Atlanta S&DC today were manufactured by Siemens. These stations will be able to efficiently charge Postal Service EVs overnight prior to the next day’s deliveries. The Postal Service’s first 14,000 EV chargers will be manufactured by three suppliers: Siemens, Rexel/ChargePoint, and Blink.

Ongoing commitment to electrifying America’s largest and oldest federal fleet

Today’s event included battery electric COTS vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F). USPS plans on procuring a total of 21,000 COTS EVs — including 9,250 from Ford — depending on market availability and operational feasibility. In addition, the Postal Service anticipates adding at least 45,000 battery-electric Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDVs) by 2028, bringing the total number of EVs in the delivery fleet to more than 66,000. This represents one of the largest commitments to vehicle electrification in the nation. USPS will also continue to explore the feasibility of achieving 100-percent electrification for its delivery vehicle fleet.

In addition, updating and modernizing the Postal Service’s fleet will allow delivery vehicles to haul larger volumes of mail and packages. For example, the Ford E-Transits displayed at today’s event have nearly three times the cargo capacity of the Grumman LLV delivery vehicles that the Postal Service currently uses. Increased cargo capacity will reduce inefficient transportation, improve delivery operations and eliminate the need for many second trips carriers take to deliver high volumes of packages.