The United States Forest Service (USFS) has begun transitioning its fleet of more than 17,000 vehicles from internal combustion to electric power. Right now, the agency is creating best practices and field testing three Ford F-150 Lightnings, which often must operate in remote areas and extreme weather conditions.
The effort will help the USFS comply with Executive Order 14057—Catalyzing America’s Clean Energy Economy Through Federal Sustainability—which directs all new federal agency light duty vehicle acquisitions to be zero-emission beginning in 2027, and acquisitions of all other vehicle types to be zero-emissions by 2035. The light duty vehicle category includes anything a normal consumer might buy: pickup trucks, sedans, and vans. Medium and heavy duty vehicles include things like buses, construction equipment, and fire trucks.
Operating in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest, Michigan’s Huron-Manistee National Forest, and the White Mountain National Forest, which spans the New Hampshire-Maine border, the three vehicles will help USFS develop a strategy for implementing EVs nationally. The agency intends for the pilot studies to create a base of knowledge around optimizing fleet size, deploying charging infrastructure, and tracking social acceptance of the vehicles.