The U.S. Government’s plan to cut out gasoline-powered vehicles from its fleet by 2035 may face some roadblocks, such as a lack of infrastructure and resistance from USPS.
According to Reuters, a government watchdog told a congressional hearing that the US government would need over 100,000 electric vehicle chargers to support its proposed electric vehicle use. Testimony by the Government Accountability Office in March stated that federal agencies currently only own about 1,100 charging stations.
Only 1,777 vehicles out of the U.S. Government’s fleet of 657,000 were electric in 2020, which is less than 0.3 percent. The General Services Administration says that 1,854 more zero-emission vehicles were purchased as of March 10, 2022.
The U.S. Government purchases around 50,000 vehicles per year, and Biden’s executive order signed in December said that the government would stop the purchase of gas-powered vehicles by 2035. Also, the government will acquire only light-duty vehicles that the White House calls “emission-free” by 2027.
Read More: Automakers Must Achieve 49 MPG Fleet Average By 2026 According To New US Standards
Proposed infrastructure legislation to spend $7.5 billion on a nationwide network of 500,000 EV chargers was approved by Congress last year.
In 2021, the Biden administration endorsed separate legislation to provide $9 billion for USPS and the federal government to buy EVs and charging stations, but that legislation remains stalled.
Biden’s executive order doesn’t cover USPS, which has resisted the executive order and plans to buy mostly gas-powered next-generation delivery vehicles. A hearing on the plan will be held by the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
USPS ordered 40,000 gas and 10,000 electric Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV), but the research that went into that decision is questionable, according to the GAO. USPS used a gas price that is almost $2 per gallon less than the current national average, as well as overestimating the cost of maintenance for the electric models.
Pres. Biden: "The federal government also owns an enormous fleet of vehicles, which we're going to replace with clean electric vehicles made right here in America, by American workers."https://t.co/figJbDMrpt pic.twitter.com/racgwk9VGw
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) January 25, 2021