President Biden made the announcement Monday during a press conference revealing a new “Buy America” initiative. He said his goal was to transition the federal government’s entire civilian vehicle fleet to “clean electric vehicles made right here in America.”
Biden did not give an exact timeline for this initiative, which will not be an easy undertaking. The fleet is composed of some 600,000 trucks, vans and passenger vehicles that operate throughout the country, sometimes in areas where EV charging infrastructure is not readily available. As of 2019, the last year for which statistics are available, the fleet stood at about 63 percent gas- and diesel-powered vehicles, with “flex-fuel” vehicles at 31 percent and hybrids making up only four percent.
