- US-based EV makers will benefit from this upgrade.
- Biden will phase out 650,000 vehicles in the federal government’s fleet.
- President Biden pledged this change on his campaign trail.
President Joe Biden will launch the process of phasing out gas-powered vehicles by the federal government. He’d be replacing them with ones running on electricity. The announcement made by Biden on the campaign trail is the fulfillment of a pledge. He pledged to replace government fleet vehicles with American-made EVs. This is fantastic news for U.S.-based EV manufacturers such as Tesla, Rivian, and Lordstown. Legacy car manufacturers such as Ford and General Motors will also benefit from this. They’re in the midst of multibillion-dollar investments in the manufacturing of electric vehicles.
According to the General Services Administration, there were almost 650,000 vehicles in the federal government’s fleet as of 2019. This includes 245,000 civilian cars, 173,000 military vehicles, and 225,000 post office vehicles. In 2019, those vehicles moved 4.5 billion miles. Biden vowed to build a scheme that provides customers rebates or incentives to replace gas cars with electric vehicles. Also, there are no further specifics about that initiative at the moment.
Transition Process
The specifics of both proposals are still being worked out. But together they mark an immense achievement for the EV investments made over the past few years by automakers. There is a raft of new EVs, including the Mustang Mach-E and an electric version of its best-selling F-150 pickup truck. Ford announced it will invest $11 billion. GM has committed itself to spend $27 billion by 2025 on electric and autonomous vehicles. Meanwhile, the incredible stock market rally of Tesla in 2020 has made it the world’s most profitable automaker. This makes the CEO, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man.
However, Biden’s order might not be a straightforward win for Tesla, which has concentrated more on luxury and performance cars. Ford, which recently introduced an electric version of its Transit vans, and GM, which just spun out a new company called BrightDrop based on electric delivery vehicles, are among the automakers that might benefit.
The United States Postal Service is one federal agency that could urgently use a new fleet of zero-emission vehicles. Over the past few years, hundreds of the agency’s mail trucks built by Northrop Grumman have caught fire, Vice recently reported. And because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the USPS’s deadline for official offers to make the next-generation mail truck was postponed last year.
Impact of the initiative
The initiative will replace the existing trucks of the USPS was introduced in2015. It was introduced in the late 1980s and early ’90s. The lack of features such as air conditioning has dragged on. It pushed the postal service to keep its existing trucks in service beyond their planned life span.
“One of the priorities of Biden is to generate 1 million new jobs in the automotive industry and to place America as the world leader in the manufacture of electric vehicles and their raw materials and components.” The president said that by switching out the government fleet for electric vehicles. And he vowed to spend billions of dollars in the United States to add 550,000 EV charging stations.
Biden will support the federal electric vehicle tax credit of $7,500. And, he will be willing to explore additional incentives to encourage car buyers to consider converting to electricity. In his 2020 budget plan, former President Donald Trump attempted, but was not successful, to end the federal EV tax credit. The Environmental Protection Agency also rolled back Obama-era pollution regulations under Trump to push the car industry to produce less-polluting vehicles.
