Mail may soon come to addresses across North Texas with an electric whisper—instead of a roar and a cloud of diesel exhaust.

The U.S. Postal Service announced plans Tuesday to acquire at least 66,000 battery electric delivery vehicles between now and 2028, in a move to begin replacing its aging delivery fleet of over 220,000 vehicles.

The Postal Service is slated to add at least 60,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles—with at least 75% of them being battery electric. As part of the plan, a total of 21,000 additional commercial off-the-shelf vehicles are also expected to be battery electric, depending on market availability and operational feasibility. The new NGDVs are slated to start servicing postal routes in late 2023.

Buying battery EVs only from 2026 to 2028

Some internal combustion vehicles will still be purchased along the way “to meet immediate vehicle replacement needs,” the Postal Service said. But from 2026 to 2028, the USPS plans to acquire only 100% electric delivery vehicles.

The move to greener delivery is part of the Postal Service’s overall network modernization efforts, which allows for a more rapid deployment of EVs. It’s also helped by the improving financial condition of the USPS, partly due to $3 billion in congressional funding appropriated under the Inflation Reduction Act.

So when will the USPS go 100% electric in its delivery vehicles across the board?

“We have a statutory requirement to deliver mail and packages to 163 million addresses six days per week and to cover our costs in doing so—that is our mission,” Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a statement. “As I’ve said in the past, if we can achieve those objectives in a more environmentally responsible way, we will do so.”

“The Postal Service’s vehicle initiative, and I personally, have benefited from the collaborative spirit of John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President and leader of the Office of Energy Innovation, as well as leaders within the Council on Environmental Quality and the Climate Policy Office,” DeJoy added. “These professionals have demonstrated a real appreciation and understanding for how vehicle electrification can be incorporated into the Postal Service’s mission and transformation, while not distracting from it. In our own way we have all been faithful stewards of how IRA funding and postal funding will be spent.” 

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