President Biden has committed to replacing the U.S. government’s fleet of cars, trucks and SUVs with American-built electric vehicles, a move that could cost upwards of $20 billion.
Speaking to media on Monday, Biden said the federal government “owns an enormous fleet of vehicles, which we’re going to replace with clean electric vehicles made right here in America made by American workers.” The government has roughly 645,000 vehicles in its fleet, Reuters reports, with just 3,215 of those being EVs.
President Biden hinted his administration would make such a move on the campaign trail, at the time saying he planned to “make a major federal commitment to purchase clean vehicles for federal, state, tribal, postal, and local fleets.”
The president also outlined a new executive order taking aim at rules that allow for vehicles to be considered American-made for federal fleet purchases even if the steel, glass or other key components were made abroad. A large number of parts for virtually all modern-day ICE vehicles and EVs are made outside of the U.S., like the microchips that have caused significant production delays across the entire industry, for example. These microchips are often made by China-based suppliers.
If Biden were to take aim at foreign-made vehicles for federal purchases, General Motors’ new BrightDrop EV600 could be ruled out for any federal fleet purchases, as the electric delivery van will be built at the GM CAMI plant in Canada.
The White House did not immediately respond to media inquiries regarding when the Biden administration planned to begin replacing the federal fleet with electric vehicles, or how long it might take to replace all 645,000 vehicles with EVs.
The president said the transformation of the federal fleet would represent “the largest mobilization of public investment in procurement infrastructure and R&D since World War Two,” and would help create more American jobs in the automotive manufacturing sector. In a subsequent statement, GM said it is “encouraged by President Biden’s commitment to supporting American manufacturing.”
President Biden also said this week the federal government would build 550,000 EV charging stations in the U.S. to help facilitate the incoming shift to battery-powered vehicles.
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Comments
So let’s use an example here. In my neck of the woods there is bunker hill and the park rangers use tahoes. Why a Tahoe in the city? Well it’s the federal government. As an aside, they like to drive around the Monument and yell at you through the loud speaker if your dog is off leash. Anyways, I’m sure a fleet Tahoe is in the 50k range. What’s a fleet electrified Tahoe gonna go for? Are they going to downsize them to say a model 3? And is Biden going to drive around in an electrified limo? Will Nancy Pelosi be chauffeured in a tesla? Focus on infrastructure, securing mineral rights to build the damm things and the rest will come naturally.
Saddly this is just talk for Unions to back him. This is all talk and very little action. He has no history of doing anything like this in 47 years in congress do you think its going to change now? More than likely no, we will see. I don’t want any president to fail but his policy are not going to help most americans when your giving 4billion to central america and making illegals citizens over the american people. Canceling a oil pipeline that is safer than trucks or rail for oil and uses no fuel once its built and flowing. One thing missing from all this talk about EV vehicles in the highway and roads. The roads cannot handle the weight of electric vehicles and these need to be updated.
don’t worry. mexico is paying that $4bn and the infrastructure upgrade.
My EV weighs less than a comparable ICE vehicle. However, the missing component in this move by the Feds is the lack of gas tax to repair or rebuild roads. In a year and a half I have driven my Volt about 10,000 miles. I paid gas tax on about 30 gallons of gas. Not enough to cover wear and tear on the roads I drive.
This is why we need a tax based on the weight of the vehicle per mile to fund the roads.
Bolt… Already pay a TAX on vehicle weight class and Bluebook value. And that is after paying state/county/city sales TAX when I purchased the vehicle. As well as 15 other fees for Age of Vehicle, Bridge Safety Surcharge, Clerk Hire Fee, County Road & Bridge, Emergency Medical Services, Emissions-Area Air Account, Emissions-Program Area County, Emissions-Statewide Air Account, Insurance Fee, Material Fee (Year Tab), Motorist Insurance Database Fee, Peace Officer Standardized Training Fee, Registration Base Fee County and Road Safety Surcharge. Adding up to $72.57 of TAX! The only optional fee not included is $25 for a “Designer Plate”. The $72.57 is what Adams County, Colorado rips it’s citizens off for every year in TAXES over and above the vehicle registration TAX.
They can handle the weight, Amazon already started putting those Electric Delivery Van’s on the roads with thousands more being built, Tesla is showing no signs of slowing down and now Jaguar wants to beat gm with the highest number of EV’s on the road by 2025, the good thing from this is, the 2024 Model Year for the Silverado and Sierra will more than likely be the final Model Year with them being equipped with Internal Combustion Engines, I plan on grabbing one of those if that is going to be the case and ride out that truck until 2030 at the least before I transition over to Electric.
Why a Tahoe? They used to use Crown Vics and when drunk and texting drivers plowed into the back of them at high speed, the equipment they stored in the trunk was driven into the fuel tank and the car went up in a fireball. Killed at least 20 people.
As a result, many departments specified heavier vehicles, and SUVs where the rear cargo space isn’t in line with fuel tanks. (When this became evident, Ford imposed a number of restrictions on what you could put in the CVPI trunk, which made things difficult and there were compliance issues)
Similarly, manufacturers evaluated high-speed rear impact performance and stopped selling small sedans as police cars to prevent getting sued like Ford did.
Moral of the story: “common sense” decisions aren’t obvious to the layperson
Sam: I need to assist you with some clarifications. I was a police officers and the vehicle maintenance director for our department at the time you are speaking about with the Ford Crown Vic fire issues. Couple things: 1. This was found to be caused by departments loading flares in the trunks with the spikes pointed forward. When the Crown Vic was rear ended, it drove the spikes of the flares into the fuel tanks and of course we all know that flammable flares and gas don’t mix well. 2. These collisions were at very high speeds (many over 75 mph). Ford’s rear crash test for the police interceptor CV’s was well above what the federal mandates were at that time. After thorough investigations from Ford and NHTSA, Ford was cleared and very specific regulations were introduced on how flares could be carried by departments. Ford also took action and gave the new CV’s even better fuel tank protection after that.
BTW, in similar crashes with flares in the same position, the Tahoe would NOT have done better.
It wasn’t just spike strips. Things that cause problems included batons that were placed longitudinally and heavy metal objects including floor jacks (for roadside flat tire assistance). There were also issues with radios and their mounting screws. Installers used sharp self-tapping screws drilled on the rear wall which punctured the fuel tank in a collision. Ford sent out a large paper template with areas marked “no drill”.
(I had a friend who at that time who was at a major affiliated supplier making integrated police computer/radio systems)
Your last comment makes no sense. Have you seen the cargo area of a Tahoe? Anything above the load floor is in line with the back seat. Police have storage units installed there, go look up a picture of a police Tahoe.
Sam: You are correct in what you say. There were certainly more things than just the flares, but I was trying to condense the comment some. As for my last part, my point was that being hit at 75 mph or higher would not do the Tahoe any better. Yes, you are correct in that the flares (etc) would not be in a similar position, but you also have other concerns due to the design of an SUV in general. Point? When being hit at 75+, there’s not much that would ever have done better than the PICV.
As a officer for well over 25 years and had comrades as well as two co- workers killed in a fiery crashes as a result of being rear ended, not one investigation showed a flare, so that my friend is false. Once the tank is punctured from the position it sat it was venerable to catch on fire, so Ford solution was to create a plastic/ kevlar shield that had to be installed. That worked all the way until they fell off after crossing a median
Sorry Byron, are you offering alternative facts? There is zero question about what I said above. Due to my position at our department and my past (and now current) work in the automotive field, this was something I watched carefully. I firmly stand by my statements.
Government and municipal tahoe fleet price is not over 50k/unit. Not all fleet tahoes are 4wd, not all fleet tahoes are pursuit rated. Fleet sales are structured differently than for a municipality or public entity that doesn’t qualify as a fleet.
More BS to waste our money and line their pockets! And as for Nancy, she’s normally so plowed she wouldn’t know if it was a Tesla or Chevette!
The way to do this is to best match the model, price and capability best to the application at hand. Then apply the most economic model to the job.
But no. The government will force models to jobs that they are and are not suited for and spend three times as much doing so. Then spend more money to fit it till they get it right.
We have seen this time and time again under both parties.
If businesses were run like the government they would all be bankrupt.
I see it first hand with my wife’s job for the government.
I would first start with the postal service with electric vans with aluminum bodies. Use them for delivery and expand it from there as proper models at competitive prices come along.
the last president was a six time bankrupt ceo. what does that tell you?
And the present has never owned a company to bankrupt.
And the present has never owned a company to bankrupt six times!!!!
fixed it for you. no need to thank me.
I wonder if people ever consider to be honest and stop being blindly political even for a few short second in their lives. A decision that supports American manufacturing and American jobs, even blocks the current loopholes that allow companies to pretend being American manufacturers but in reality just act as piece assemblers by outsourcing every single component goes into the finished product from abroad ,yet still can’t able to appease naysayers.
I thought bringing American manufacturing back maybe the only policy the both side of aisle agree on, but no, as a tribal warrior you can’t go soft aka fair on this feud any moment ,you have to be cynical to the cost of being hypocritical and pick away at anything comes from the other side
AGREED. Start with vehicles that provide “services” to the Public as well as Government.
I’ve been reading some of the articles the past couple days about this exact thing. For the moment, let’s leave partisan politics aside. Let’s just look at this for what it is, even if it’s not totally possible.
To start, no matter which side you fall on, this should be a good thing. In fact, I’d think the right would like this, although for other reasons than the left. Either way, this is something that must be done and make the rules so that it’s near impossible for any motor vehicle to be purchased by ANY government sector that is not totally American by brand, name and assembly point. This needs to include any police motorcycles.
I now live in Los Angeles. This place is not my “happy place”, but my kids are here and so am I till they are old enough to be off to college. One thing I really dislike here is that driving a “foreign” brand vehicle is nearly a must. Yes, this bothers me, but it’s still a free world and when it’s your money you are spending, I guess you buy what you want/like. HOWEVER, it is 100% totally unacceptable for the city of Los Angeles, the county and other municipalities/government organizations to purchase import brands for use with tax payer money!! All those Toyota’s and Honda’s running around for parking enforcement? The city of LA getting all those BMW I-3’s for police (non patrol use)? I could go on, but it should be against the law for any government body or city or county to attain any foreign brand vehicles with tax payer backed money. Period.
Hot take… California is full of hypocrites and federal programs involving BEVs will not change that. They better drive those little imports into the ground before they buy a new fleet. Not trying to implying that you are a hypocrite or financially irresponsible, but the state certainly is… At this point, financially, California is a lost cause.
h4chsaw: No offense taken! I actually feel the same way about it out here. I’m kind of a strange bird as I’m the most conservative Democrat you will ever meet. More independent really. But I feel you are totally spot on with what you said.
Don’t know about the hypocrite label, but ICE drivers will become BEV drivers. At a certain point, that’s inevitable. If you don’t like California, then move.
I got a lot of heat when i disagreed with GM for not signing on with other Automakers in California. I stated that GM stood to lose a lot of Government sales. Well low and behold GM did the right thing and sped up their EV infrastructure and is now in the lead for most of these government segments. GM better get an EV Tahoe sized vehicle out ASAP before Tesla does it with their Cybertruck first. GM is looking smart right now and just look at their once lackluster Stock….they announce they are all in on EV’s and their shares have doubled.
The reborn GM (since the Obama-Biden loan) learned a lot, but not all. Maybe they just recognized they have to keep learning and refining their strategies. Agree with all of Momo’s suggestions. Hopefully, Barra reads what’s posted here! I see great things for GM over the next 4-8 years. That also means great things for its sizable workforce. As we all know, GM isn’t that special within the global auto industry. Release by release we’ll see how GM protects and expands their BEV success. Converting their products quickly and predictably would certainly do that.
At my military base the electric charging stalls are still in-place at DPW. So, hopefully the the new light trucks are electric. Many garrison command vehicles are hybrid, so fully electric is the next step. Military police vehicles can be electric. Recruiter vehicles can be electric.
As long as vehicles are equipped with EMP shields, this will be fine for military and police vehicles. I’m 100% all for all fleet vehicles, public transportation vehicles and things like that to go electric. I think this should have been the plan from day 1 with vehicle electrification. Solar powered charging stations along with converting all homes and buildings to electricity powered by solar, wind or water would seriously reduce the carbon footprint we are all so worried about. Another huge area of Carbon output would be air travel. As it stands there are companies working to have zero-emissions air travel so when that happens things will be alot better as well.
The problem with commuter cars is that not all people have single resident homes with driveways that they can park electric cars and charge them. Not to mention areas where crime is high could see charging cables become a high-risk item, which would be a setback in this “magical world of zero-emissions electric cars.” People who live in apartments don’t have access to being able to plug their vehicles in at night to charge their vehicles either. These are the problems that the electric future faces.
The only way I can see EV’s working on a wide scale basis is if the cost of ownership over a long time remain much lower compared to ICE powered vehicles.
Mainly will gasoline become a lot cheaper after EV’s start to slowly gain in popularity? Or will it cost more? Will electrical cost rise or fall with the increase demand for it due to EV’s?
Also EV’s only make sense now if people own a home, not someone that lives in a apartment or a condo, but even out here in CA where I live, there’s not many EV recharging stations like you would think for us being “oh so progressive” in the way the politicians like to think. EV charging stations need to be on almost every street corner in order for the entire EV craze to work in CA. I don’t like how EV’s are being pushed down our throats, let the market decide what it does and does not like. For GM to overly focus on EV’s is quite dangerous financially because of the cost to build an EV and how much they sell for. Average Americans won’t be able to afford one, and also, not everyone likes the ultra-silence of an EV. So the risk is high for them. What they have is the Federal Government on their side because without the outlawing ICE vehicles in our country over time, the EV revolution won’t work as advertised.
You’re not going to be able to lure that “Bro” that loves his lifted Silverado with monster truck tires. Or the classic car buff that loves the sound and rumble of a V8. Or anyone that likes fast, loud, and sporty cars with the uniqueness that gives a Mustang, a Camaro, a Challenger, a souped up Honda Civic, a Subaru WRX STI it’s own sound and feel.
This all will be lost in the homogenization of EV’s. This is not at all about the environment, as newer ICE powered vehicles barely emit any exhaust emissions due to advancements of its emissions system over the last 40 plus years. This is about control and building vehicles that will literally make it impossible for any owner to be able to fix it. And if something does fail in a EV, it will most likely be in the thousands of dollars to repair, not anything less.
Tesla has gotten their new Batteries to $65 per kwh hour. That means $6,500 per pack for their S and X Models.
That is their Third Gen Battery Tech. They are already working on the Fourth Gen
I have stated here multiple times that EV’s will become so much cheaper to produce that ICE will die off naturally. It will make almost no sense (except Niche Segments) to offer ICE vehicles.
Disruption Technology always starts off expensive and then once Price hits a certain point, it hits the S-Curve and it is lights out for the older Tech.
And it is NOT only Tesla that is working on Battery Tech anymore. Almost the entire Automotive World is.
Mr. Cadillac: Being a motorhead guy myself, I see what you are saying and you have some good points. However, most of that is based on old thoughts and fear of the new thing coming your way that really isn’t that new. I won’t go point for point, but I also live in LA area. There are a lot more chargers than you may know. I was thinking the same thing a while back, but now have been noticing many electric/hybrid electric vehicles along the street plugged in at parking spaces. Just saying there are more than we know. But the main thing is about this specific article. It’s about government vehicles going electric and that is a smart thing. There are so many benefits to an electric, that it outweighs the negatives for the “majority” of the people. Never having to stop at a gas station. No more oil changes. No more power steering fluid, trans fluid, radiator issues. In fact, there is so much less for electric vehicles to deal with, that over the course of the battery packs, the savings would be well above an occasional battery swap. I personally feel this would be more prominent with government use and where the offices would be set up to be charging the car/van/truck as it’s sitting.
This won’t work (correctly) for police use of course due to limitations and the unknown minute by minute of that work. But it would work for non-pursuit and non-patrol type police use. Anyhow, just like when the car was introduced and took over fully in the late 1800 and early 1900’s, the horse didn’t go away. Same thing here. ICE vehicles will be around and available for a very long time yet and will fill that need for people like us.
Dan, you may find it of interest that the Fremont Police Department (FPD) in my hometown recently purchased and deployed a Tesla S 85 patrol vehicle in an EV pilot program and based upon its evaluations in 2019 and 2020, the Tesla performed favorably and the department plans to add more Teslas – moving from the S to the Model Y due to its even more suitable for police use SUV configuration and lower cost. Their findings bear out the viability of the Tesla as a patrol vehicle and illustrate the overall cost savings realized by the department compared to a traditional cruiser – with the rare added benefit of buying vehicles manufactured locally. FPD’s reports are an interesting read and the photos of old police cruisers from the ’70s and ’80s are neat, too. I particularly enjoyed the nostalgia as my mom was a key member of the department from the late ’70s to late ’90s and I was fortunate to have grown up around some terrific people who comprised what was ranked as one of the country’s model PDs at the time. Though the names and faces have all changed, it appears they’re continuing that tradition today.
xxx-fremontpolice.gov/community/hybrid-and-electric-patrol-vehicles
Cool, thanks Idiot Boy. I’ve seen several articles about departments using a Tesla. But the reality is that they are still a long ways off before being able to actually (correctly) use a Tesla or any all electric vehicle for patrol. It will happen soon and Ford already has the Explorer hybrid offered. You are certainly correct in that the savings are huge. The fuel costs are a large expense and I recall the amount we used when doing my records.
I’m truly an Automotive enthusiast and I agree with nearly all of this. There will still be things that will be able to be tinkered with and electric cars are going to be mandated to have some kind of sound and companies are already working on making performance sounds for electric vehicles. Also, gen-2 electric vehicles are more than likely going to have DCT transmissions, hydraulic brake systems and other things. There are still going to be aftermarket wheels, big brake kits, suspension stuff, cooling systems and other things to do. Right now, yes they are fairly soul-less but they’re just starting out. Just like the Model T or the Chevy Classic Six, They were basic at the time but pretty soon the Muscle car era came and made cars alot of fun. This will be the same. Pretty soon, you’ll see mall parking lots, job parking lots, hotel parking lots and everywhere else full of public charging stations.
“If Biden were to take aim at foreign-made vehicles for federal purchases, it’s likely that General Motors’ new BrightDrop EV600 would be ruled out for any federal fleet purchases, as the electric delivery van will be built at the GM CAMI plant in Canada.”
Meanwhile Mary Barra to GM board members “Hmm guys, whose idea was it to send our new delivery EV manufacturing to Canada while we’re trying to find out what we’re gonna do with all the dead manufacturing capacity from US plants after getting rid of whole bunch of vehicles?”
Shouldn’t sleepy Joe be a little more worried about the pandemic we are currently facing? My father is high risk and still doesn’t have any idea about when he can be vaccinated. All the Democrats seem to think the pandemic is over just because their boy is in office… It’s not over. Forcing your BEV agenda down our throats isn’t going to change that or make me forget about my loved ones health.
h4cksaw
Also yesterday, President Biden ordered 200 million more doses of Vaccine.
I bet the Secret Service, ATF, FBI, and ICE are going to live switching out those Suburbans and Tahoe’s for Bolt. Does that mean Joe is getting a new beast?
Rick Rohde
Everybody gets a Hummer. FBI gets Hummers. ICE gets Hummers. Secret Service gets Hummers. ATF gets Marijuana, Antphetamines and Narcotics, becomes F.A.T.M.A.N. and FATMAN will get Hummers.
The Grumman LLV my mail man drives is 30 years old and still going strong. I’d like to see an EV compete with that.
With 100% AMERICAN MADE components or parts sourced from his Chinese cohorts?
Wow! I can see long lines around the 7-11 “pumps” in the near future. Not to mention the salary (avg $24.69/hour) being paid to those waiting with their thumbs twidleling while they wait for a fill-up an couple of hours. But it is the government so nothing will get done anyway.
China Joe. Quid Pro Joe.
Now MAGA Joe. Your Democrat Party is a total sham.
Your handle is revealing. Wasn’t quite sure about your labeling, but it’s a source of constant amusement to hear any kind of Repugnican accusing others of being radical, hypocritical, or phony. Cult members usually don’t even know they’re in a cult.
How in the world is our outdated and ancient electrical grid going to be able to charge up all these ev’s? I guess wind and solar power will have to be increased heavily. And don’t forget that about 62%of electrical power is generated by plants running on fossil fuels. So much for ev’s being so environmentally friendly.
Dougyfd
1) The Refrigerators, Air Conditioners, T.V.s, home computers, gaming systems, washer/dryers built today are much more energy efficient than the ones built 100 years ago. We’ll just use all the electricity we’re saving to power our cars.
2) The sun rises on the east coast 3 hours before it rises on the west coast, and the sun sets on the west coast 3 hours after it sets in the east. If we put solar panels on both coasts. We’ll be able to extend the time we use the suns energy to power stuff by 6 hours a day.
3) It’s a power grid if we put wind turbines in the center of the country we wouldn’t over stress either side of the grid.
4) the average American drives 40 miles a day. We get the car companies to sell the vehicles fully charged. That way the electric grid will only need to provide an average of 40 miles a day of electricity. Not the whole 300 miles a day.
5) Slowly transition to electric vehicles over the next 20 years. Use the money made from increased electricity sales to fund the upgrading of the grid.
Okay, so to power my vehicle today I should replace all my appliances and electronics for the new more efficient ones. That should only bump the cost of the vehicle up by $15-20K. Then in a couple of years when the batteries are toast spend what about $2500 to replace them? *I haven’t put $2400 worth of fossil fuel in my 2014 Impala since I bought it new. (Yes very low mileage!) And say instead of replacing batteries I would like a new car. So again, have to replace all appliances and electronics to the newer more efficient ones. Just to save electricity to power my vehicle. Solar doesn’t work since I cannot install it where I live. And even if I could figure another $10K expense. Not to mention the environmental issues with disposing of used solar panels. Windmill blades kills the aviary creatures that they are supposedly saving. The whole electric car and “climate change” or whatever they are calling it this week is a scam!
Karl
My comment pertained to the electric grid. Not you personally.
All the automakers are making the switch to electric. If you can’t make the switch to electric you are basically screwed.
PeterG
Exactly! I am on the electric grid and will pay dearly in fees/taxes for upgrades to the infrastructure. And own and drive (though rarely) a motor vehicle. You are absolutely 100% correct that I as well as a large percentage of the American public will be screwed by Biden and the Leftist Green fools!
How much is that ugly electric car again that you payed twice as much money for? How much did that charging station cost to stick in your garage? How much are your taxes going up to cover revenue lost from taxes on oil use? How much time are you going to waste sitting in some town charging your loser car after it runs low on charge compared to the 5 minutes it takes to fill up on gas?
ksmith
How much blood and treasure has the U.S. spent fighting wars for oil? How much has the country spent cleaning up oil spills after the Exxon Valdez and Deep Water Horizon disasters? How much oil money has been spent corrupting our politicians and radicalizing our population to the point where we attack our own capital? How much has man made climate change already affected our weather? How much money and how many lives have already been lost? If we continue to burn fossil fuels, how long before earth is uninhabitable by humans?
Finally! Some good scare tactics!
Karl
You like? It is a comment section and I was trying to get a better response than “Windmills Kill Birds”
Earth will be uninhabitable long before we run out of fuel and the left and China are already seeing to that. Please provide proof that we have changed the climate in the past 100 or so years from automobiles and factories/planes etc? So what caused climate change the million or so years before that? Cow farts? How much blood money will be lost ruining the country side with bird killing generators and solar generators, updating the massive electrical grid and converting everything over to this leftist green new deal? Weather has been changing ever since the earth was formed and will continue to change and alter as time goes on. Remember that thing called an ice age that killed off the dinosaurs? What caused that? Weather has been changing slowly every since and will continue to do so no matter what we do so stop blaming everything on fossil fuels
ksmith
Proof is GM switching to all electric by 2035.
why can’t liberals stop making everything political? our country is completely devided by them.
Will biden accept blame for the BLACKOUTS this will cause?