Colorado cities showcase benefits of municipal fleet electrification

As electric vehicles sales reach record numbers acorss the state, there are many reasons to celebrate the progress being made towards a zero-emission transportation future. With transportation cited as the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Pollution ReductionRoadmap from January 2021, the need to accelerate the transition away from gas-powered vehicles towards zero and low-emission alternatives has become urgent. 

While sales of passenger EVs topped 17% in the last quarter of 2023, cities and counties across the state are also capitalizing on the many benefits of electric vehicles for their communities. Not only are EVs helping cities and counties reach their climate targets, but emerging data shows they are also saving taxpayers money on fuel and maintenance costs. 

Fleet managers are taking advantage of state and federal tax incentives and grant programs designed to lower the upfront costs of new EVs, resulting in a variety of new electric vehicles taking over new and different tasks. Notably, local governments can utilize the state’s Clean Fleet Vehicle and Technology Grant Program, which provides incentives to support the adoption of clean fleet vehicles and technology and the federal Commercial Clean Vehicle Credit (which passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act) offers savings of up to $7,500 per light-duty EV.

CoPIRG’s tour of some of Colorado’s leading cities on electrification show us how cities are adapting their fleets in new and exciting ways, creating healthier communities while conserving critical resources.  

CITY OF ASPEN

Tim Karfs, Sustainability Programs Administrator, Climate Action Office

Aspen is a leader statewide in electrifying their police department, with 5 Model Y Tesla’s currently deployed on the force, and a sixth on the way. The police department also has a new Ford F-150 lightning being outfitted for patrol and arriving for duty within the next few months. All police vehicles have performed well in cold conditions, noted Tim Karfs, Sustainability Programs Administrator of Aspen’s Climate Action Office.

“Where there have been good simple replacements, we’ve  made a lot of impact,” noted Karfs. “So that’s most notably seen in the Aspen Police Department – right now, one-third of the Aspen PD fleet is electric, so that’s really exciting and we are learning a lot from that experience.”

Additionally, new data being collected by the city shows significant cost savings around fuel and maintenance for the electric vehicles compared to their gas-powered counterparts. 

As the city moves towards its goal of 100% zero-emission transportation, Karfs noted that they were looking for opportunities to use state and federal incentives to continue to build out charging infrastructure, while continuing to replace as many current fleet vehicles with electric options as possible. 

Aspen has long been a pioneer in the state around policies to combat climate change and improve air quality. In 2017, the Aspen City Council adopted the 2017 Electric Vehicle Readiness Plan which aimed to accelerate the adoption of EVs through education, installing more charging stations, and leading by example with the City’s own fleet. In 2020, the city adopted new science-based climate targets aiming to reduce greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions by 63% in 2030 and 100% in 2050; EV adoption is a key strategy to achieve the emission reduction goals in Aspen’s Climate Action Plan. 

In 2022, the city created a Fleet Emissions Reduction Roadmap, which provides a roadmap for the city to transition its municipal fleet towards 100% zero-emission vehicles by 2050. While the current fleet is less than 10% electric now, according to Karfs, an increasing number of roles are now being taken over by electric alternatives. 

Watch the full interview with Tim below, where he dives into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for Aspen.

Town of Avon

Craig Wilmers, Fleet Manager

Nestled in the mountain, Avon may be a small Colorado town but its commitment to municipal electrification is setting the bar statewide. The town set greenhouse gas emission reduction goals in the 2016 Climate Action Plan, targeting transportation as one of the key sectors to address (the plan was updated in 2020). 

Light-duty vehicles have been the easiest to replace, and the Town has purchased five all-electric All Wheel Drive (AWD) Volkswagen ID.4’s and two all electric Ford F-150s, a 13% increase in EVs as a percentage of fleet vehicles. 

Avon is striving to be the first town in Eagle County with a 100% hybrid fleet for the police department. The town recently deployed 2 new Ford F-150 hybrids for a total of ten hybrid vehicles on the force. 

City of Boulder

Tristano Greco, Fleet Manager

As one of the first cities in the state to make a GoEV City commitment to a 100% zero-emission transportation future, Boulder has long been a leader in electrification. Currently, the city has about 42 electric vehicles (EVs), with 26 more on order and expected within the next 6 months, bringing the expected total to 68. 

A chat with Boulder’s Fleet Manager, Tristano Greco, showed several new EVs the city is using, including 2 new Ford F-150 Lightnings. These were part of 5 Lightnings that arrived last June, and are performing a range of duties for the city with departments like Fleet, Open Space, Parks and Recreation, Utilities, and Building Services. The vehicles travel anywhere from 20 to 200 miles per day, and take around 12-14 hours to fully charge at the fleet management depot using a level 2 charger.  

Greco highlighted several benefits of the new Lightnings, including one pedal drive (also known as regenerative braking), which slows the car down once the accelerator is released and uses that energy to recharge the brake. This allows the car to be more stable on snow and ice, because it can slow down without the brake, noted Greco, which is also aided by the car’s lower center of gravity. With more power, heavier weight, and less noise, the vehicles are superior for towing and “don’t move all over the road like you do in a regular F150,” said Greco. 

Watch the full interview with Tristano:

Next up for the municipal leader’s fleet electrification includes some RAV4 Primes and Chevy Bolts coming in on the light-duty front, and thanks to a grant from CDPHE, the city has ordered a Rosenbauer Electric Fire Truck. Greco noted the active role the fire department played in pushing that grant through, as well as the role of the city’s grant writing team. Next steps include an electric heavy-duty street sweeper on the way, marking some of the first pieces of the fleet’s heavy-duty equipment to go electric. 

That lack of EV replacements for heavy-duty vehicles remains the hardest part of reaching the goal of a 100% zero-emission fleet. As Greco noted, “We’re trying everything we can, the light-duty stuff more and more keep coming and that will keep opportunities coming. It’s the medium and heavy duty realm that’s sort of starting to ramp up, but it’s a lot further behind and it’s also extremely expensive.” 

City of Longmont

Cash Johns, Fleet Manager

Longmont is another GoEV City, setting a short-term goal of hitting 25% of the fleet being electric by 2030. Under the leadership of Fleet Manager Cash Johns, the city is well on their way to meeting their goal and increasing the number of EVs on the fleet. The city currently operates 12 electric vehicles, including several Chevy Bolts, Nissan Leafs, and a Mustang Mach E. Johns also have 4 Ford F-150 Lightnings on order, with 2 expected to arrive within weeks and begin service with the Next Life division (Longmont’s fiber optic / broadband department) and the building inspection department. 

To meet the 2030 goal, Johns has a 16 year replacement plan that looks at all vehicles within the city’s fleet and identifies which ones he is able to replace with EVs. He estimates that he will purchase 177 new EVs throughout the plan, with the majority of those arriving in the next 6-8 years. 

The city has received a grant from the state to help fund charging infrastructure, and is using that to build out level 2 and 3 chargers on 5 different city campuses. Johns has also ordered a solar-powered level 3 charger that is portable and uses a solar panel to generate the electricity for the charge. 

Challenges to reaching 100% remain, notably in the availability of electric vehicle options to complete municipal tasks (snow plows were noted as a specific challenge) and often long waiting times to get vehicles after ordering them. Those delays, noted Johns, have given him time to plan and build the charging infrastructure necessary to support the deployment of these EVs in greater numbers going forward. 

And on the ground, feedback on the vehicles has been overwhelmingly positive, according to Johns with both fleet staff and city officials.