The United States Postal Service is buying six Canoo LDV 190 electric vans from the company, with the EV startup announcing this latest purchase agreement for the future fleet. This will help kickstart the USPS' plans to electrify its fleet, with a massive goal of its clean energy transition in the future, with this new order to be shipped come April 2024.
It is known that USPS previously got a massive budget from the US Congress regarding its electrification goals, soon to expand more in its initiative for the future.
USPS Buys Six Canoo LDV EVs to Deliver by April
(Photo : Canoo)
Canoo announced earlier today that it has now signed a purchase agreement with the US Postal Service for its battery-powered electric vehicles (BEV), particularly with the LDV 190 electric vans. The USPS purchased only six units for this initial purchase of the electric vans, with the EV startup joining in as one of the postal service's suppliers, and soon a potential long-term partner.
"The multi-purpose platform with steer-by-wire technology and a unique low-profile suspension system allows for a readily configurable right-hand drive system while maintaining desired roll and ride stability."
Tony Aquila, Investor, Executive Chairman, and CEO of Canoo.
Moreover, Canoo said that USPS will first display what it has in store for the world, centering on its technology for EVs.
Ars Technica reported that this is under the USPS's program known as the Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV) which targets a massive goal of 45,000 EVs come 2028. It centers on as many as 21,000 electric vehicles from partnered automakers, including 9,250 e-Transit vans from Ford.
It also comes after the USPS announced the first EV charging stations for its fleet in South Atlanta.
Deliver America and USPS
In 2022, the massive Deliver to America initiative by Canoo was approved by Congress, and its goal is to modernize the fleet of the postal service which would help improve more of its future plans. As much as $9.6 billion was allotted by Congress for USPS' plans, centering on a total of 66,000 clean energy cars coming soon to its fleet, and other infrastructure developments.
Earlier in 2022, it was thought that USPS would move forward with electric vehicles as part of its modernization plans, and this was also something that President Joe Biden pushed for with the agency. However, the US Postal Service bought massive orders of gas-powered vehicles during this time, saying that its goals to bring in EVs would have to be part of additional funding granted to them.
In this new direction for USPS, the goal under the modernization plans will soon take its shape this 2024, with the first deliveries from Canoo coming by the end of March or early April. The LDV 190 electric vans will offer a right-hand drive configuration for easier access for the delivery person, said to be under the USPS' $40 billion investment towards clean energy.
