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US government fleet to be replaced with American-made electric vehicles

UPDATE: Volkswagen Group boss Herbert Diess has reached out to US President Joe Biden via social media to volunteer the company's products for the new initiative.


"Good decision and good timing, [Volkswagen Group] is ready to deliver!" Mr Diess wrote in a tweet to the president.

Dear @POTUS, you want to replace your fleet by #EVs. Good decision and good timing, @VWGroup is ready to deliver! We will start our e-offensive in the US. And by 2022 we will produce our #ID4 also locally in Chattanooga. https://t.co/qmD2eTBeW4

— Herbert Diess (@Herbert_Diess) January 26, 2021

 

"We will start our e-offensive in the US. And by 2022 we will produce our #ID4 also locally in Chattanooga."

Diess joined Twitter last week, and began by poking fun at Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

 

 

27 January 2021: Less than a week after his inauguration, US President Joe Biden has announced the entire fleet of the federal government is to be replaced with American-made electric vehicles.

While exact details of the plan have yet to be released, it's expected the transition will take a number of years to complete as US-based car manufacturers continue to roll out battery-powered models.

"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," President Biden said.

 

Pres. Biden: "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."https://t.co/figJbDMrpt pic.twitter.com/racgwk9VGw

— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) January 25, 2021

 

Biden added the move amounts to "the largest mobilization of public investment in procurement infrastructure and R&D since World War Two."

The US government owns 645,000 cars and trucks within its fleet. Of those, approximately 27 per cent are military vehicles, 35 per cent are run by the postal service, and the remainder civilian vehicles.

Of the 225,000 vehicles operated by the US Postal Service, nearly two thirds are the iconic white box vans, of which the youngest are 27 years old – now three years past their use-by date, according to an April 2020 story by Vox – and average around 23.5 litres per 100 kilometres.

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Ben Zachariah

Ben Zachariah is an experienced writer and motoring journalist from Melbourne, having worked in the automotive industry for more than two decades. Ben began writing professionally more than 15 years ago and was previously an interstate truck driver. He completed his MBA in Finance in early 2021 and is considered an expert on classic car investment.

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