President Joe Biden has pledged to replace the US government’s fleet of about 650,000 vehicles with American-made electric models in an impulse to use “clean energy”.
Still, he did not give a timetable for replacing the fleet – or, crucially, a price tag.
Biden said electrifying the U.S. fleet would create jobs for American auto workers and that it would be a major mobilization of public investment, especially when combined with a separate executive order ‘Buy American’ that he signed earlier in the week.
Altogether, electrification of the fleet could generate one million jobs in the automotive and clean energy sectors, said Biden.
President Biden said that the federal government vehicle fleet will be replaced by clean electric vehicles
“The federal government has a huge fleet of vehicles, which we are going to replace with clean electric vehicles – made right here in America by American workers,” said Biden.
Fleet replacement could cost $ 20 billion or more, according to Reuters calculations.
It’s a big task: of the U.S. government vehicles, only 3,215 were electric vehicles in July 2020, according to government data.
Biden said he would also close “loopholes” that allow key parts such as engines, steel and glass to be manufactured abroad for vehicles that still receive the seal of being made in the United States. He is no longer under his new proposal, he said.
The fleet exchange is part of a campaign promise that Biden made in the race for the presidency and will begin with the exchange of trucks driven by the USPS
It is not clear whether the fleet of ‘Beast’ limousines made in Cadillac, in which the presidents travel, will be covered by the ‘all electric’ plan
The White House did not immediately answer questions about the period Biden planned to replace current vehicles or whether the replacement includes The Beast’s fleet of fortified Cadillac limousines in which the president travels.
The electrification project is separate from another announced Biden initiative: its executive order ‘Buy America’, signed Monday, does not direct the purchase of electric vehicles.
Meanwhile, as of 2019, the U.S. government owned 645,000 vehicles that traveled 4.5 billion miles, consuming 375 million gallons of gasoline and diesel, according to the General Services Administration (GSA).
They include 245,000 civilian vehicles, 173,000 military vehicles and 225,000 postal vehicles, which traveled 4.5 billion miles in 2019.
The U.S. government spent $ 4.4 billion on federal vehicle costs in 2019, the GSA said.
In 2019, the federal government had more than 645,000 vehicles in its fleet, so it will probably take years for a complete replacement to happen. A US secret service agent is next to a limo in front of the White House
First among the federal fleet of vehicles that needed to be replaced is the current fleet of US Postal Service delivery vehicles – many of which are still Grumman’s LLV models, which became the postal service’s favorite vehicle in the 1980s.
During the campaign, Biden promised to ‘make a major federal commitment to buy clean vehicles for federal, state, tribal, postal and local fleets.’
He also promised to create 1 million new jobs in the ‘American auto industry, domestic automotive supply chains and automotive infrastructure, from parts to materials and charging stations for electric vehicles’.
Biden supports new consumer discounts to encourage the replacement of older, less efficient vehicles with newer electric vehicles and incentives for manufacturers to build or retrofit factories to assemble EVs and parts.
Biden promises to build 550,000 EV charging stations and spend more on clean energy research.
Biden has also pledged to build 550,000 EV charging stations and spend more on clean energy research.
GM says it is “encouraged by President Biden’s commitment to supporting American manufacturing”, while Ford said, “President Biden’s initial focus on investing in American manufacturing is critical to the continued success of the U.S. auto industry.
Ford recently unveiled an electric version of its Transit vans, and GM has just launched a new company called BrightDrop focused on electric delivery vehicles.