USPS Getting 6,500 Eco-Friendly Vehicles
Last month, the U.S. government’s General Services Administration (GSA) said that it would be buying $210 million worth of new, fuel-efficient or alternative energy vehicles. Each of the cars purchased would be replacing vehicles that were already at the end of their service life, so this wasn’t just frivolous spending, but the government did enact new regulations regarding energy consumption. The GSA has announced that the U.S. Postal Service will be getting 6,500 new vehicles.
The new vehicles will be comprised of 1,000 E-85 Flex-fuel cars, 900 hybrids, and 4,500 fuel-efficient four-cylinder cars. The new additions will bring the total hybrid or flex-fuel vehicles in the Postal Service’s massive 220,000 vehicle fleet to 43,000. In addition to these cars, the USPS is also putting a number of EVs, like the above pictured Chrysler EV deliver van, through the paces. The 250 Chysler EVs will join two hydrogen fuel cell Chevy Equinox vehicles, 300 biodiesel vehicles, 35 propane vehicles, and a number of “electric transporters” (scooters, basically). The Chrysler EVs will have an average driving distance of about 20 miles per day and will be distributed across the U.S. in order to test them in under a variety of urban/suburban and climate conditions.
