President Joe Biden revealed on Monday his plan to overhaul the federal vehicle fleet, which will see a radical transition from gas-powered to electric vehicles. The program is part of Biden's recently issued "Made In America" executive order that intends to allocate government spending on products and services owned and operating in the United States.
Essentially, Biden is following through on a key campaign promise that he will steer America to the use of clean energy and make it an official policy. It appears that the White House's vision is to phase out the U.S. government's existing vehicle assets, last estimated to consist of more than 650,000 units deployed for civilian and military use.
A sizeable portion of the federal fleet involves postal services and if Washington has its way, some 225,000 units will be soon declared obsolete to make way for battery-powered delivery vehicles.
CNET said the White House announcement was without a specific timeline so it's unclear for now when the new administration will give the program a start. It is expected, however, that Biden's attention will be trained first on the aging post vehicle fleet, the majority of which were acquired in the 1980s.
The U.S. Post Office is known for its fleet of Gumman LLV and possible replacements have been considered over the past years. Biddings have been conducted reportedly but the government has yet to pick a particular supplier although Workhorse recently emerged as a strong candidate to electrify America's postal vehicles.
Notably, Workhorse shares saw a significant jump on the market following the Biden administration's electrification program, thus firing up the speculations that the company will be tapped eventually to manufacture electric delivery vans for the Post Office.
This initiative is in line with the recent statement from the government's transportation department that EVs will be running on U.S. roads by the millions. The use of EVs by government agencies is Biden making good on his pledge to protect and preserve the environment when elected.
The President's action is backed by the power of his office and it can be said that he is serious in putting America back at the center stage, leading the way in formulating measures to reverse the adverse effects of climate change, according to Electrek.
Immediately after taking over from President Donald Trump, Biden issued a directive for the U.S. to rejoin the Paris Agreement. And to further give weight to his intention to cooperate with the international community on the matter, the President created a group of experts that will pursue America's renewed climate program. Former senator John Kerry is the lead man of the team.
The program to use clean energy could see delays due in part to the contradicting policy of the previous administration but Biden is at least off to a good restart.
