How long does it take for a fleet to electrify? The answer depends on various factors, but it really shouldn’t take nine years—unless the fleet in question belongs to a quasi-governmental agency, and the transition is taking place against a background of unprecedented political turmoil.

Postal delivery vehicles are a picture-perfect use case for EVs—short, well-defined routes, returning to a central depot every day. And contrary to what some nihilists would like to believe, national postal services are still very relevant—personal letters and hand-written thank-you notes may be passé (alas), but home delivery of goods is more popular than ever.

Postal fleets in Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and other countries are well on their way to full electrification. Now, after over a decade of debate, lawsuits, a corporate bankruptcy, allegations of corruption, a congressional investigation or two, political flipflops and public pokes in the eye (figurative only, as far as we know), the United States Postal Service (an independent agency of the federal government authorized by the Constitution) is finally beginning to replace its 30-plus-year-old delivery vans with newly-designed EVs.

I’ve been writing about this irritating issue since 2016, so I’ll cover only the latest developments here. However, please do follow our blow-by-blow account of the lengthy saga. You’ll also find a good explanation of the current situation in Car and Driver, written by John Voelcker, who actually drove one of the Next Generation Delivery Vehicles.

By 2016 (after years of debate and dithering), the USPS had decided to replace its Grumman delivery vehicles, some of which were already 30 years old, and which lack air conditioning and modern safety features. Even then, it was plain that replacing them with EVs was the most economical choice, but political considerations dictated that at least some of the new vehicles be fossil fuel-powered. The proportion of EVs to legacy powertrains became the main bone of contention.

Contractor Oshkosh is building the NGDV in a battery-electric version and a gas version (with a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder from Ford). In addition to deploying the custom-built NGDVs, the postal service is purchasing thousands of off-the-shelf EVs. Reuters reports that the agency has purchased 8,700 Ford E-Transits, and that at least 2,010 of these are now in service, alongside 612 electric NGDVs. USPS says more EVs are entering service every week. USPS has also commissioned 6,650 charging ports at 75 sites.

As it stands now, the USPS’s $2.98-billion initial order will consist of 70 percent EVs and 30 percent fossils, which will be deployed on longer and chillier routes which might prove more challenging for EVs (as is standard best practice for mixed fleet deployments).

In June, Senate Republicans made a last-ditch effort to stop electrification altogether—they wanted USPS to scrap the thousands of EVs and the charging equipment that had already been deployed. The agency pointed out that this would result in a loss of at least $1.5 billion, and it appears that cooler heads prevailed. For now.

Sources: Car and Driver, Reuters