The U.S. Postal Service is piloting seven battery-electric delivery vans. The Ford E-450-based walk-in vans are built on Motiv’s all-electric EPIC chassis and will be deployed in California’s Central Valley.
The delivery vehicles will run routes in Fresno and Stockton. This is expected to immediately benefit the San Joaquin Valley, an economically disadvantaged area with some of the highest pollution burdens in the country.
The vehicles were purchased through a partnership by CALSTART and the San Joaquin Clean Transportation Center and funded through a grant from the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
This isn’t the Postal Service’s first foray into electric vehicles. The first known test of an electric vehicle for mail collection was in Buffalo, New York on July 2, 1899. Since 2001, the USPS has operated 30 battery-electric 2-ton vehicles in New York City, which were later joined by a pair of two-ton hybrid-electric vehicles in Long Island.
Editor's Note: Learn more about the U.S. Postal Service's history with electric vehicles on their website.
