The US government plans to replace its vehicle fleet with electric alternatives. This is part of a huge public investment in equipment that President Biden said will be the largest since World War II. The goal was announced today as Biden discussed the Buy American Executive Order and strategies to strengthen American manufacturing and create jobs in the United States.
« The federal government also owns an enormous fleet of vehicles, » Biden said during the press conference on Energy and Vehicles with Net Zero Emissions. Together, this will be the largest mobilization of public investment in procurement, infrastructure and R&D since World War II. »
Certainly there is no shortage of vehicles that are used in the various departments of the government. These departments are required to submit records of their own, leased and commercially leased vehicles in their fleets each year. In 2019, civil authorities owned more than 158,000 vehicles, while military agencies owned more than 62,000 vehicles.
However, the largest fleet is used by the US Postal Service. In the 2019 figures, there were more than 224,000 vehicles owned. In all agencies there are more than 445,000 of their own vehicles on the books and more than 200,000 are leased in some form, with a total cost of around 4.4 billion US dollars.
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Typically, domestic vehicles already far outweigh foreign passenger cars and trucks used by the US government. In fact, of the around 645,000-strong fleet, only around 6 percent were manufactured abroad in 2019. However, should even a small percentage be replaced by electrified vehicles, this could mean an enormous shift in emissions.
In the current reporting, vehicles are not broken down by powertrain type – beyond a separate category for Low Speed Electric Vehicles (LSEV) – so it is unclear how many vehicles may already be battery electric or hybrid vehicles.
However, only in the last few years have there been viable options to replace standard vehicles with emission-free alternatives, and even then some categories are still waiting for series electric vehicles. Ford and Chevrolet are both preparing electric pickups, as is Tesla, and several American automakers are working on electric SUVs and sedans.
Startups like Rivian and Canoo are developing both passenger cars and SUVs and electric delivery vehicles, while Ford has an e-Transit in the pipeline, an all-electric version of its best-selling delivery van. Earlier this month, GM announced a new brand, BrightDrop, that will focus on electrical logistics.
« The dollars the federal government spends on goods and services are a powerful tool in helping American workers and manufacturers, » the White House said today. “Procurement alone accounts for nearly $ 600 billion in federal spending. Federal law requires government agencies to give US companies preferences, but these preferences have not always been consistently or effectively implemented. »
All details of today’s implementing regulation have yet to be published by the government in the federal register.
Ref: https://www.slashgear.com
