来源：《洛杉矶时报》
原文刊登日期：2022年12月22日
The U.S. Postal Service announced this week that it will spend billions of dollars to buy tens of thousands of electric delivery vehicles over the next few years. It’s a victory in the fight against climate change and a welcome shift by an agency that until recently had intended to update its huge, aging fleet with another generation of gas guzzlers. It’s also a win for public health, as a growing number of zero-emission mail trucks will soon start to deliver not only letters and packages, but cleaner air to every corner of the nation.
美国邮政本周宣布，将在未来几年花费数十亿美元购买数万辆电动快递车。这是一个对抗气候变化的胜利，也是一个受欢迎的转变，直到最近，美国邮政还打算用新一代的油老虎来更新其庞大的老化车队。这对公众健康也是一场胜利，因为越来越多的零排放邮车很快将开始向全美各地运送信件和包裹，还将带来更清洁的空气。
The Postal Service will buy 106,000 delivery vehicles by 2028, of which 66,000 will be electric, and plans to purchase zero-emission delivery trucks exclusively by 2026. The $9.6-billion plan is a dramatic change from earlier this year, when Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was appointed during the Trump administration, planned to make only 10% of the next-generation fleet electric and add as many as 165,000 new gas-guzzling delivery trucks over the next decade that get less than 9 miles per gallon. That would have been a huge mistake considering these vehicles last 30 years and could be on the roads polluting the air and warming the climate into the 2060s.
美国邮政计划到2028年购买10.6万辆快递车，其中6.6万辆是电动的，并计划到2026年只购买零排放的快递卡车。这项耗资96亿美元的计划与今年早些时候相比发生了巨大变化，当时特朗普政府期间任命的邮政局长路易斯·德乔伊计划只让10%的下一代邮递车辆采用电动力，并在未来10年增加多达16.5万辆每加仑行驶不到9英里的高油耗卡车。考虑到这些车辆的使用寿命长达30年，最长可服役到2060年，并且可能在道路上污染空气，使气候变暖，这将是一个巨大的错误。
The Biden administration, which does not have direct control over the Postal Service, pushed back nonetheless. California, New York and more than a dozen other states filed suit in April to halt the purchase of gas-powered trucks, joining environmental groups in demanding investments in clean, zero-emission vehicles instead.
尽管如此，对邮政服务没有直接控制权的拜登政府进行了抵制。今年4月，加州、纽约和其他十几个州提起诉讼，要求停止购买汽油动力卡车，与环保团体一起，要求投资于清洁、零排放的汽车。
While the Postal Service will need to do more to fully electrify its aging fleet of more than 220,000 vehicles, this move helps put us closer to achieving President Biden’s climate goals, including an order he issued last year for the federal government to purchase only zero-emission vehicles by 2035, and to do so by 2027 for light-duty vehicles. The nation’s largest vehicle fleet now has the potential to become its largest electric one too. Instead of lagging behind private-sector companies such as Amazon and FedEx, the Postal Service can help lead the way toward a zero-emission future.
虽然邮政服务还需要做更多的工作，使其超过22万辆的老化车队完全电动化，但此举有助于我们更接近实现拜登总统的气候目标，包括他去年发布的命令，要求联邦政府到2035年只购买零排放车辆，到2027年只购买轻型车辆。美国最大的车队现在也有可能成为最大的电动车队。邮政服务不仅没有落后于亚马逊（Amazon）和联邦快递（FedEx）等私营企业，反而有助于引领零排放的未来。
Mail delivery trucks are especially well-suited for electrification because they run defined, local routes with low daily mileage and have hours of operation that allow them to be easily recharged. Because these vehicles serve virtually every community, electrifying them will bring widespread benefits, curbing air pollution while reducing fuel and maintenance costs and our dependence on oil.
邮件递送卡车特别适合电气化，因为它们运行的是固定的本地路线，每日行驶里程较低，并且运营时间只有几个小时，可以轻松充电。因为这些汽车服务于几乎每个社区，电动化将带来广泛的好处，遏制空气污染，同时降低燃料和维护成本，以及我们对石油的依赖。
It seems especially significant that something as ordinary and ubiquitous as the white mail truck will now help the nation blaze a trail toward a fossil-free future through every neighborhood in the country. And we won’t have to wait for years either. The new vehicles are expected to go into service on postal routes in late 2023.
像白色邮车这样普通而无所不在的东西，现在将帮助这个国家在全国每个街区开辟一条通往无化石未来的道路，这似乎特别有意义。而且我们也不用等很多年。预计新车辆将于2023年底投入邮政路线服务。