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Mail delivery vehicles are parked outside a post office in Boys Town, Neb., Aug. 28. Feb. 18, 2020. The Postal Service announced Tuesday that it will dramatically increase the number of electric delivery trucks in its fleet and transition to all-electric for new purchases beginning in 2026.

Nati Harnik/AP

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Nati Harnik/AP

Mail delivery vehicles are parked outside a post office in Boys Town, Neb., Aug. 28. Feb. 18, 2020. The Postal Service announced Tuesday that it will dramatically increase the number of electric delivery trucks in its fleet and transition to all-electric for new purchases beginning in 2026.

Nati Harnik/AP

WASHINGTON — In a major boost to President Joe Biden’s pledge to eliminate gas-powered vehicles from the sprawling federal fleet, the Postal Service said Tuesday it will dramatically increase the number of electric delivery trucks — and shift to all-electric for new purchases from 2026.

The Post Office said it was spending nearly $10 billion to electrify its aging fleet, including installing modern charging infrastructure at hundreds of postal facilities nationwide and purchasing at least 66,000 trucks. electricity delivery over the next five years. The spending includes $3 billion in funding approved as part of a landmark climate and health policy passed by Congress last year.

The White House hailed the announcement as a way to maintain reliable postal service for Americans while modernizing the fleet, reducing operating costs and improving air quality in neighborhoods across the country.

“This is Biden’s climate strategy on wheels, and the US Postal Service delivered for the American people,” said White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi.

The new plan “puts the postal fleet on a path to electrification, dramatically reduces vehicle miles traveled on the network, and puts the USPS at the forefront of the clean transportation revolution,” added John Podesta. , senior adviser to the White House.

The US government operates the largest fleet of vehicles in the world, and the Postal Service is the largest federal government fleet with over 220,000 vehicles, or one-third of the overall US fleet. The USPS announcement “sets the bar for the rest of the federal government and, more importantly, the rest of the world,” the White House said.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who has come under fire for an initial plan that included buying thousands of gas trucks, said the Postal Service is required by law to deliver mail and packages to 163 million addresses six days a week and to cover its costs. . .

“As I have said in the past, if we can achieve these goals in a more environmentally friendly way, we will,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

A plan announced by DeJoy in February would have made just 10% of the agency’s next-generation electric fleet. The Environmental Protection Agency criticized the Postal Service, an independent agency, for underestimating greenhouse gas emissions and failing to consider more environmentally friendly alternatives.

Environmental groups and more than a dozen states, including California, New York and Illinois, have sued to suspend the original plan and have asked judges to order a more thorough environmental review before the postal service is moving forward with the fleet modernization program. The Postal Service then adjusted its plan to ensure that half of its initial purchase of 50,000 next-generation vehicles would be electric.

Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club’s clean transportation campaign, called the plan announced Tuesday a “massive win for the climate and public health” and a common-sense decision.

“Instead of receiving pollution with their daily mail packages, communities across the United States will be relieved of cleaner air,” she said.

“Every neighborhood, every home in America deserves to have USPS electric trucks delivering clean air with their mail, and today’s announcement takes us almost that far,” said lead attorney Adrian Martinez. of Earthjustice, one of the groups that sued the Postal Service.

In addition to modern safety equipment, the new delivery vehicles are taller, making it easier for postmen to grab packages that represent a larger share of the volume. They also improved ergonomics and air conditioning.