Oct. 24, 2022—The U.S. government has increased its electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid purchases, but supply chain issues are gumming up the government's overall strategy.
According to Reuters, the White House said that federal agency purchases of EVs and PHEVs have quintupled over the last 12 months ending on Sept. 30. The data went from 1% during the 2021 budget year to 12% of light-duty purchases in 2022. This made for a total of 3,567 vehicles.
While these numbers are impressive, supply chain disruptions are a factor. The White House said that it would have achieved 20% of zero emission vehicles through fulfillment of the Federal Government's ZEV orders in FY2022 if not for the aforementioned disruptions.
The Government Accountability Office released a report last Thursday that said federal agencies purchased 257 electric vehicles during the 2021 budget year. From the 33,000 light-duty vehicles that were acquired in the 2021 budget year, federal agencies bought 119 PHEVs and 138 EVs.
Reuters also reported that the GAO said federal agencies own over 4,000 charging ports in around 1,050 charging locations in less than 500 cities across the nation. This information is as of March 2022.
President Joe Biden has goals to achieve zero-emission vehicle purchasing for the federal government, with some exemptions.
