High upfront costs would mean savings are more than a decade away, but there’s a fiscal light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to an all-electric fleet of light-duty municipal vehicles.
City Assets and Fleet Services director Shawn Turner outlines a proposed shift to a fully electric light-duty vehicle fleet by 2036 in a report city council members will vote on during their Oct. 7 meeting.
The report does not include medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, which Turner wrote, “do not have commercially viable electric vehicle replacements on the market today.”
Earlier this year, city council members balked at the $89-million cost associated with transitioning to a fully-electric GOVA Transit fleet by 2035 (the 2023-50 net overall cost of shifting to electric buses from the diesel buses currently used).
When it comes to the city’s fleet of light-duty vehicles and ice resurfacing machines, high upfront capital costs mean going all-electric would cost $3.27-million more than the status quo between now and the plan’s full phase-in by 2036.
However, the overall projected life-cycle net cost of an all-electric fleet is $1.6 million less than the status-quo, thanks to longer-term savings associated with maintenance and fuel costs.
Pre-empting city council’s Oct. 7 decision, the Coalition for a Livable Sudbury issued a media release urging city council members to greenlight the proposal.
“This is an opportunity to take a substantive step forward towards meeting the city’s climate goals,” chair Naomi Grant wrote in a package which included 13 letters of support.
Among these letters is one by former Public Health Sudbury and Districts chief medical officer of health Dr. Penny Sutcliffe.
“Local climate action is essential to mitigate the individual and community health impacts seen – and anticipated to escalate – in our own backyard due to a changing climate,” Sutcliffe wrote. “It is not too late to prevent serious local individual and community health impacts of global warming.”
As of last month, the city had purchased and/or ordered 29 electric vehicles and two electric ice-resurfacing vehicles.
Turner’s report focuses on the city’s balance of 146 light vehicles and 16 Zambonis, which are proposed to be largely replaced with electric vehicles by 2035, with the final two Zambonis replaced in 2036.
The 2035 date was set in the city’s Community Energy and Emissions Plan, which calls for a fully electric municipal fleet by that time. Although this environmental plan also includes heavy vehicles, such as snow plows and GOVA Transit vehicles, they’re not dealt with in Turner’s report, in which he pledges to showcase their feasibility in the future.
The city’s fleet electrification plan, which Turner’s report builds on, notes, “The feasibility of electrifying the specialized, heavy- and medium-duty fleet will be re-evaluated in the future as battery technology improves, the market matures, and new types of battery electric vehicles become available in these segments.”
The city’s proposed plan proposes the following changes to the city’s 146 light vehicles and 16 Zambonis currently powered by internal combustion engines:
- 71 half-ton pickups are to be replaced with electric F150 Lightnings
- 16 full-sized vans (Ford E Transit)
- 15 minivans (Kia EV9)
- 7 Sedans (Hyundai Kona)
- 21 SUVs (Chevrolet Equinox)
- 16 Zambonis (electric Zamboni)
The city’s 10-year plan would begin with 11 vehicles being replaced with electric versions in 2026, alongside two Zambonis. It would peak with 22 vehicles and two Zambonis being replaced in 2028, and cap in 2036 when the final two Zambonis are replaced with electric versions.
Turner’s report notes the importance of tackling on-road transportation in addressing climate change, noting that approximately 18 per cent of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions are on roadways. Upon replacing all light-duty vehicles and Zambonis with electric vehicles, the City of Greater Sudbury’s annual greenhouse gas emissions will drop by approximately 620 tonnes.
Shifting to an all-electric GOVA Transit system was projected to reduce annual emissions by an even greater degree, from the system’s current 5,600 tonnes per year to just greater than 600.
Other efforts highlighted in Turner’s report which the city has undertaken to reduce emissions include:
- Using a biodiesel blend consisting of five-per-cent biodiesel from May to September.
- Installing HYGN Energy hydrogen hybrid retrofit units on three vehicles, including a bus, garbage packer and dump truck, to reduce emissions by 40-70 per cent. This pilot project will continue for another full year, at which time staff will present findings and a recommendation to city council.
- The city promotes an anti-idling campaign.
- Vehicles are right-sized upon their replacement so staff aren’t driving around in larger vehicles than necessary, and the city continually reviews its fleet size, having reduced it by 11 vehicles since 2017.
The city’s current climate goals, including the Community Energy and Emissions Plan, were spurred by city council’s unanimous declaration of a climate emergency in 2019.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.