Biden vows to electrify federal government fleet of 600,000 vehicles

The federal government owns more than 600,000 civilian vehicles – trucks, vans and passenger vehicles – with the vast majority running on gasoline or diesel. On Monday, Joe Biden promised to change that.

“The federal government has a huge fleet of vehicles, which we are replacing with clean electric vehicles made right here in America,” Biden said at a press conference to announce a new “Buy American” initiative.

It won’t be easy. In 2019, the most recent year for which data is available, the federal government owned less than 3,000 battery-electric vehicles – less than half a percent of the federal fleet.

Gasoline and diesel vehicles made up 63 percent of the federal fleet that year, while “flex-fuel” vehicles capable of burning an 85 percent ethanol blend made up a further 31 percent. Only 4% of federal vehicles were hybrids in 2019 and most were not plug-in hybrids.

The slow progress is not due to the lack of testing. Over the past two decades, Congress has passed several laws requiring the federal government to switch to more fuel-efficient and less polluting vehicles. Under Barack Obama, the federal government has made progress. For example, the number of hybrid vehicles increased from 1,766 in 2008 to 25,059 in 2017. The number of vehicles compatible with ethanol increased from 129,000 in 2008 to 201,000 in 2017.

This progress has not been easy. Federal agencies need a variety of vehicle types, from sedans to large trucks and vans. In some cases, agencies have struggled to find low-emission vehicles that meet their requirements. Some agencies were also operating in areas of the country where alternative fuels and charging infrastructure were not available.

Hybrid and electric vehicles produce fewer emissions than conventional vehicles, but they are significantly more expensive than conventional vehicles. A 2019 report from the Government Accountability Office estimated the cost of low-emission vehicles for fiscal year 2017. It found that hybrid sedans cost up to $ 5,200 more than a conventional vehicle. Plug-in hybrid vehicles cost $ 8,700 to $ 15,300 more than conventional vehicles. Battery-powered electric sedans cost $ 8,900 more.

Trump canceled Obama’s green car initiative

In 2015, President Obama signed an executive order requiring agencies to plan 20% of their vehicle purchases to be zero-emission vehicles or plug-in hybrids by 2020. He raised the target to 50% by 2025 But in 2018, President Trump signed a new executive order rescinding those targets. Progress towards low-emission vehicles has stalled. The number of flex-fuel, hybrid and battery-electric vehicles in the federal fleet all declined between 2018 and 2019.

Now Biden is looking to restart and possibly accelerate Obama’s efforts. It will be easier today than when Obama signed his executive order in 2015. The rapidly declining cost of batteries means that plug-in hybrids and battery-electric vehicles are now more affordable. Battery-electric vehicles haven’t quite hit price parity with conventional vehicles, but the gap has narrowed and experts expect it to close completely around 2025 – the year where Biden’s first term ends.

There is now a much wider range of battery electric vehicles from which federal agencies can choose, including a growing number of trucks, vans and SUVs. The amount of charging infrastructure is also growing rapidly.

Despite all these gains, electrifying 100% of the electric fleet will be a big project. Although Biden said this as a goal, he did not give a specific timeline. Whatever scenario you can imagine, it will take a decade or more to completely replace the federal government’s 381,000 conventional vehicles and 191,000 flex-fuel vehicles with battery-electric alternatives.