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EV Fleets

7 Ways EVs Can Transform Your City’s Municipal Fleets and Public Transit Service

October 21, 2024

It’s all about the numbers. Today’s diesel prices have increased 72% over the $2.10 per gallon price fleet owners paid in 2022. That’s a huge increase for communities that want to provide cost-effective transportation to the people they serve.

Image via Freepik

For that reason, it’s no wonder that municipalities, public transit services, and school districts are considering a move to an EV fleet. Since more electric fleet vehicles are available now than ever before, purchasing EVs for municipal fleets and public transit vehicles is a wise move for organizations everywhere. If you’re a leader in the community transit space, here are some facts that can help guide your decision.

1. A Broad Range of Commercial EVs to Choose From

If you’re new to the commercial EV world, your idea of an EV might be limited to those sleek Tesla sedans you’ve seen cruising around town — maybe a Cybertruck or two. Your world is about to expand exponentially.

According to a list of commercial EVs compiled by Snohomish County Public Utility District (SCPUD) No. 1, 147 of the latest commercial EV models are available in the US today. The commercial vehicles range from classes 1-8 and include everything from commercial pickups, vans, and SUVs to semi-trucks, school buses, garbage trucks, and municipal buses.

That doesn’t even count the sedans your municipal leaders might use to get to their meetings and photo ops. No matter what types of vehicles your municipality or school district needs, they’re likely available in cost-saving EV versions.

2. EV Public Transit and Municipal Fleets Keep Your Residents’ Air Cleaner

Image via Wikimedia Commons

While the massive semis carrying transcontinental cargo mostly travel through vast expanses of sparsely populated lands, your municipal fleet earns its keep by rolling through your city streets, delivering services and transportation to your residents. If you use diesel-powered public transit and municipal fleets, they’ll emit a lot of toxic fumes in the process.

As a recent World Resources Institute article points out, you can reduce most of the “air pollution and negative health impacts” that go hand-in-hand with internal combustion engine (ICE) emissions when you electrify your city and local school bus fleets.

3. Save Revenue with the Commercial Clean Vehicle Credit

Your city won’t only save on fuel bills when you electrify your municipal fleet. You can leverage the Commercial Clean Vehicle Credit to receive “a clean vehicle tax credit of up to $40,000,” depending on the vehicles you purchase, according to the Internal Revenue Service website.

Vehicles that weigh less than 14,000 pounds can receive a credit of up to $7,500, while heavier vehicles qualify for a credit of up to $14,000, the website indicates. Even plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) can receive 15% of a hybrid vehicle’s tax basis under this program.

Municipalities, school districts, and other tax-exempt organizations can receive the credit via a direct pay provision, as an American Cities Climate Challenge article states.

4. Earn Revenue from Idle Bus Batteries Through V2G Charging

As our staff discovered during research for our new white paper, one Massachusetts school district that converted some of its buses to EVs took advantage of its summer break by connecting its buses to bidirectional chargers connected to the local grid. With bidirectional charging, EV owners can transfer some of their EVs’ electricity back into the grid through vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology.

Image via Freepik

Over two summer breaks, the school fed 10.78 MWh of electrical energy into its local grid, generating $23,500 in the process, according to Synop, the school’s V2G partner. Municipal transits with seasonal runs could also use idle buses to generate extra revenue with V2G during their downtimes if they electrify their fleets.

5. Reduce Your Fleet’s Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

It’s not only savings on fuel your municipality will realize when you electrify your fleet. You’ll also see an immediate reduction in maintenance costs. As a recent ChargePoint post points out, “EVs have only around 20 moving parts compared to nearly 2,000 for a traditional vehicle.”

Fewer moving parts mean fewer needs to replace or repair them. EV transit vehicles don’t need oil changes or maintenance on their exhaust systems — they have none. Additionally, with EVs’ regenerative braking systems, you’ll see less wear on your vehicles’ brakes over time. Adding up all the maintenance costs your municipality won’t have to pay will likely result in a 40% average savings — as a 2021 US Department of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) study found.

6. Recoup Battery Costs by Repurposing Spent Batteries

Image via Wikimedia Commons

While EV batteries have a long useful life—about 15 to 20 years—eventually, your transit service will have to replace them, as a NationalGrid post reports. However, your municipality can still use them as backup power sources.

If your city garage utilizes solar panels as a renewable energy source, you can store energy in your transit vehicles’ old batteries as a secondary power source. You could also use them to feed energy into your garages’ and offices’ heating and cooling systems, reducing utility costs in the process.

7. Use Success Stories to Convince City Leadership Teams to Electrify Fleets

Like it or not, the “We’ve never done it that way before” mentality is typical among bureaucratic institutions, such as governmental bodies. As Tomorrow Today Global observes, “Red tape, onerous regulations, unnecessary systems, unthinking compliance and all other forms of bureaucracy suck the life out of creativity and innovation…people saying things like, ‘we’ve never done it that way before…’”

Instead of fighting it, use that mentality to your advantage. Drive innovation by pointing out that other cities have reduced costs and improved community services by electrifying their transit fleets. Indeed, if those municipalities did so, someone has obviously “done it that way” successfully.

Cities across the US have all reduced emissions while saving on expenses by replacing diesel-powered transit vehicles with electric ones. Other cities, such as Chapel Hill, NC, and many more, are moving toward EVs — with great success. When your city leaders realize they’re leaving money on the table by remaining with their diesel fleet, they’ll be more likely to consider the move themselves.

Discover More About the Benefits of EVs for Your Municipal Fleet at the Summit

At the EV Charging Summit, you and your teams can learn about the most recent developments in large-scale EV adoption by public transit and municipal fleets. There, you can network with your peers and the world’s leading experts in fleet technology while you soak in all the information.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity. Reserve your place at the Summit today!

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