A report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), released on Tuesday, revealed that U.S. government agencies failed to meet the Biden administration’s electric vehicle (EV) purchase targets for the 2023 budget year, purchasing more than four times as many gas-powered vehicles as EVs.
In total, agencies bought 25,300 gas-powered vehicles, while only 5,500 EVs and plug-in hybrids were acquired, falling short of the target of 9,500 set by 11 selected agencies. This figure represents 60% of the target, the report said.
In December 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order aimed at ending the purchase of gas-powered vehicles by 2035, with a goal for all light-duty federal vehicle acquisitions to be electric or plug-in hybrid by 2027.
However, the GAO report highlighted several challenges in meeting these goals, citing factors outside the control of the agencies, such as the availability of sufficient zero-emission vehicles and the readiness of charging infrastructure.
As of November, 10,500 federal charging ports had been activated, with around 52,500 more under installation. The General Services Administration (GSA) estimated in 2022 that more than 100,000 charging ports would be required to transition the federal fleet to zero-emission vehicles.
Despite these challenges, the GSA reported that EV orders in 2023 increased by 63% compared to 2022, and in the first quarter of the 2024 budget year, the government placed orders for 4,000 EVs, making up nearly 30% of total vehicle orders.
The federal fleet, which comprises around 380,000 vehicles, does not include the U.S. Postal Service, which has its own plans for electric vehicles. Last week, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy defended the Postal Service’s strategy to purchase 66,000 EVs by 2028, supported by $3 billion in funding from Congress to help subsidize vehicle and charging infrastructure costs.
Source: Reuters
