The U.S. Postal Service today began awarding contracts to order thousands of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) to replace its aging, gasoline-powered mail trucks, in accordance with its December announcement that it would acquire at least 66,000 BEVs as part of its 106,000-truck acquisition plan by 2028.

USPS has now put that plan into motion by awarding contracts for 9,250 commercially available, left-hand drive (LHD) Ford E-Transit vans, and also placing initial orders for more than 14,000 charging stations to be deployed at Postal Service facilities. At the same time, USPS also ordered 9,250 commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) internal combustion engine vehicles, citing an “urgent need for vehicles” as part of its delivery vehicle replacement plan.