In remarks made at the signing of his Executive Order on Strengthening American Manufacturing, President Biden said that he would replace the federal government’s fleet of vehicles with electric vehicles made in the US.
Such an investment in procurement, along with hundreds of billions of dollars to be spent in R&D in areas such as battery technology, and hundreds of billions of dollars to be spent on infrastructure, will add up to the largest mobilization of public investment in these areas since World War II, Biden claimed.
The Executive Order increases the Buy America requirements for these kinds of projects and improves the way domestic content requirements are measured, Biden said.
In his remarks, the President provided no further details on the fleet conversion to EVs, such as timing and spending plans. The Executive Order itself focuses on processes, procedures and metrics, and is not a roadmap for investment plans.
According to the US General Services Administration (GSA) FY 2019 Federal Fleet Report, the total fleet inventory across all agencies (civilian, military, and Postal Service) is 645,047 vehicles. Of that total, 445,777 are owned; 194,293 are in the GSA fleet; and 4,977 are commercial leased.
Civilian agencies account for 245,950 units; the military for 173,429 units; and the postal service for 225,668 units.
Passenger vehicles (low-speed EVs, sedans, vans and SUVs) account for 224,227 units (35%). Trucks (light-, medium-, and heavy-duty) account for 412,488 units (64%); 53% (216,492) of those trucks belong to the postal service.
Ambulances and buses account for 8,332 units.
Of the trucks, 271,652 are light-duty (66%); 101,999 are medium-duty (25%); and 38,837 are heavy-duty (9%).
Gasoline vehicles account for 52% of the inventory (336,056 units); E-85 vehicles for 30% (194,526). Diesel takes a 12% share by unit (76,349). The remainder is spread between gasoline and diesel hybrids and plug-in hybrids, CNG, electric (3,215, or 0.5%), LPG and LNG. The government had no hydrogen vehicles in its fleet at the time the GSA posted the report.
