Part of a Climate Innovation Network series profiling the firms making real climate progress

Transportation was the highest emitting sector in the US in 2021, responsible for 29% of overall emissions. Over two-thirds of this came from light-duty vehicles and medium- and heavy-duty trucks – in other words, road fleets. Scopes 1 and 3 fleet emissions are highly material to firms in several industries, but for postal services and courier organizations they represent the vast majority of their total carbon footprint. Investing in the transition to low-carbon vehicles and infrastructure is key to achieve significant contribution to firms’ net zero goals.

Who:
The US Postal Services (USPS), an independent federal agency providing postal services across the US, with over 640,000 employees.

What particular challenges do they face?
The USPS has set a goal to reduce its Scope 1 emissions by 40% by 2030, which involves decarbonizing more than 246,000 vehicles. The fleet includes vehicles of all sizes, the majority of which are smaller, from 0.5 - 2.5 tonnes, as well as some larger tractors and trailers. One of the main challenges is the higher upfront cost of EVs compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, together with the supply of vehicles and charging infrastructure design and deployment.

What is their net zero strategy?
Part of the USPS’s net zero strategy and 10-year Delivering for America (DFTA) plan is to move freight from air to road, optimize routes for trucks and carriers, procure zero emissions and reduced emissions vehicles, and build a nationwide network of EV charging stations.

How will it be implemented?
In January 2023, USPS announced it will:

• Procure 21,000 EVs from Ford Motor Company and complement that with 45,000 Oshkosh electric delivery vehicles – designed specifically for USPS – by 2028.
  
  
• Install 14,000 charging stations at 400 sorting and delivery centres worldwide, manufactured by Siemens, Rexel/ChargePoint and Blink.
  
  
• Keep increasing cargo capacity of vehicles to reduce second trips and refine delivery routes, therefore optimizing operations and reducing emissions.

In order to execute its net zero and network modernization plan, UPSP received $3 billion under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), of which $1.29 billion is dedicated to purchasing net zero emissions vehicles and $1.71 billion for infrastructure design.

Where you can find out more:
To read more about how USPS plans to roll out one of the largest EV fleets in the US, read its press release here.

If you are interested in finding out more about the fleet decarbonization market, including corporate strategies to decarbonize and new trends across technologies and solutions providers, stay tuned for the upcoming Verdantix Market Overview: Fleet Decarbonization.