This week’s American politics began with President Joe Biden vowing to replace the 645,000 (approximately) vehicles (passenger cars, commercial vans, trucks, and SUVs) in the US government fleet with electric models. The new administration is directing its focus toward clean energy. The new vehicles must be manufactured in the US – a requirement linked to a broader Made in America executive order.
Biden said:
The federal government also owns an enormous fleet of vehicles, which we’re going to replace with clean electric vehicles made right here in America, by American workers, creating millions of jobs — a million autoworker jobs.
One of his campaign promises was to create one million new jobs in the US auto industry and supply chains. And while there have been “buy American” rules requiring a certain amount of a product must be made in America to qualify for a federal contract, the new executive order Biden just signed places stricter regulations on those procurement practices.
The new order closes “loopholes” that we’re allowing the government to purchases vehicles considered US-made but consisting of a significant amount of non-American made components. For example, some automakers are buying engines, glass, and steel manufactured abroad but assembling the cars in America with a few parts made on-site. That won’t be allowed anymore.
He also vows to spend more on clean energy research, build 550,000 EV charging stations, back new consumer rebates to replace old vehicles with new EVs, and incentivize manufacturers to retool or build new factories to assemble EVs and their parts locally.
The most recent data (2019) from the General Services Agency (GSA) shows that over 224,000 of the government vehicles are passenger vehicles, and over 412,000 are trucks (the rest are misc.). To replace them all will cost around $20 billion or more. Only 3,215 were electric as of July 2020.
A GSA spokesperson told TechCrunch in an emailed statement:
GSA is committed to exploring opportunities to leverage the purchasing and leasing power of the federal government to address the climate crisis, including greening the federal fleet. GSA currently manages over 224,000 passenger vehicles in its fleet to support the Federal Government’s mission. By leveraging clean energy vehicle technologies, GSA will support the President’s climate goals, while working with the American automotive manufacturing industry to ensure that these next-generation vehicles are built in America by American workers.
The transition may take a while. One reason is that many federal vehicles are leased, slowing down the switch depending on the contract length. Another reason is the current lack of charging infrastructure. Nevertheless, the momentum is there!
