Philadelphia EV Initiative Projected to Cost $7M

The City of Philadelphia has released a Municipal Clean Fleet Plan that outlines a path toward fleet electrification. Its goal is to achieve 100% procurement of clean energy for municipal operations by 2030.

The plan would incrementally cost the city $7 million between 2021 and 2030 in capital costs, but save the city $2.3 million in operating costs over that same time period. State incentives for vehicles and charging infrastructure could lower the capital costs, the report stated.

The fleet, with 5,500 vehicles, emits about 13% of the municipal government’s carbon footprint.

The plan’s recommendations include:

• Lay out a procurement plan to achieve 100% procurement of EVs for sedans, SUVs, vans, and light-duty trucks by 2030 and procure no new fossil-fuel-consuming vehicles after 2030.
• Limit procurement of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in the short term to await changes in market trajectory of medium-and heavy-duty EVs; for unavoidable procurement, purchase compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles or other alternative-fuel vehicles.
• Establish a clean fleet committee to support infrastructure coordination.
• Develop a funding program to connect fuel cost/operational savings and capital procurement.
• Optimize alternative fuel and EV infrastructure, including exploring ways to procure renewable natural gas and developing an EV infrastructure deployment scenario.

The plan calls for rightsizing from light-duty trucks and SUVs into smaller electric vehicles when possible. It also suggests reducing the fleet size by leveraging alternative transport options for city staff — including using car-sharing services or pre-tax transit benefits — instead of using pool vehicles.