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President Joe Biden has just announced that he will replace the entire US federal fleet with electric vehicles made in the United States.
The US federal fleet comprises more than 645,000 vehicles, according to the latest Federal Fleet Report. This includes 245,000 civilian vehicles, 173,000 military vehicles and 225,000 post office vehicles.
Biden spoke a lot about U.S.-made electric vehicles during the campaign, so an announcement to this effect isn’t unexpected, but campaign promises don’t always translate into real action.
We don’t have a replacement schedule, just a commitment so far. No details of this plan have yet been released.
Some federal vehicles may avoid being replaced in the short term – early retirement of some vehicles would cost significantly more, and some specialty vehicles will undoubtedly require more development before they are ready to be electrified. But the massive use of electric vehicles is expected to save the government significant fuel and maintenance savings over the long term, especially in heavily used vehicles.
US Post vehicles in particular are ready for replacement, with the Gumman LLV in use by the post since the late 1980s showing its age. These vehicles perform short, consistent daily trips with lots of starts and stops, which is an ideal application for electric vehicles. The U.S. government has been in a competitive bidding process for several years to replace the LLV, but has repeatedly pushed back the decision – likely in an effort to secure more serious alternative fuel offers.
Workhorse, a company that plans to offer electric delivery vans, had been tendered for the contract, but the bidding process was stalled. Workhorse (WKHS) stock has risen around 10% since Biden’s announcement today.
Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also indicated his willingness to push electric vehicles forward, saying he wanted to put “millions” of electric cars on US roads.
In Biden’s early days as president, he has already taken several positive environmental steps. He joined the Paris Agreement and canceled the Kestone XL gas pipeline permit on day one, as promised, and appointed a team of climate experts, including John Kerry, who has already started work on repairing the the environmental reputation of the United States abroad. This EV announcement is another big step forward, although it is just an announcement for now.
Taking Electrek
If today’s news did not give details, words now carry the weight of a president, rather than a presidential candidate, behind them. Implementation might still be behind schedule from what we want to see, but at least the right thing is being thought about.
We would like to see more details on this, including the timelines for different departments, what makes / models the government is considering and how immune these measures might be from interference from the unfortunate possibility of a future administration that could be as outwardly hostile to the environment as the latter was. In short – the sooner the better. If we could do that in the next four years that would be great.
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