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From The Cover
Charging Ahead: Fleet Electrification Takes Center Stage By SARAH WRIGHT | The Municipal
Municipal fleet managers have been on the front lines of the electric vehicle revolution since the first modern passenger EVs began sharing our roads in the mid-1990s. While the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment and subsequent emissions regulations on automotive manufacturers inspired a new wave of EV development at the time, those products were largely either concept cars or compact, lightweight passenger vehicles with extremely limited range and performance capabilities. Despite this, the quest for regulatory-driven sustainability had begun in earnest, and municipal fleet managers took an active part in exploring their continued development. While those early EVs could never match the substantial operational or performance demands of the fleet industry, municipal fleet managers were nevertheless some of the earliest target customers for these reduced and zero emission vehicles. The reason was very similar to what drives much of that demand today — the desire (and the mandates) of town, city and state governments to operate more sustainably. Investing in sustainability Nearly 30 years later, some would argue the fleet industry is not that much farther along on its quest to electrify today than it was back then – particularly when compared to how quickly other emerging technologies of the time, such as the internet, have come in that same amount of time. That said, most experts agree the transition has accelerated considerably in recent years, thanks to a wide range of factors, including: • A significant increase in EV and clean vehicle incentives at the state — and soon, likely federal — levels. • Slowly but steadily declining EV component costs, including for batteries and related technologies. • Increasing commitments by most major OEMs to electrify more of their vehicles. • An influx of new electric vehicle OEMs building a range of firstgeneration EV products. • Massive investment in EV-related technologies, with dozens of companies in the space that have gone or plan to go public this year, raising more than $17 billion in investor funding to date. Many roads to fleet electrification All of these factors are contributing to a scenario where fleets are in better position than ever before to prioritize electrification as part of their vehicle portfolio. That said, there are still quite a few challenges 10 THE MUNICIPAL | MAY 2021
fleets need to overcome when considering all-electric vehicle options in particular. Some of those well-documented hurdles include: • Limited charging infrastructure, both within facilities and in the field. • High capital cost of battery electric fleet vehicles, often making them difficult to afford or scale without incentives. • Lack of currently available EV options that meet the range of purpose-built applications needed for municipal fleets. Clearly, there are many variables impacting the decision to electrify and no “one size fits all” model that works for all fleets, vehicles or applications. There are, however, a range of electrification choices available that can help municipal fleets accelerate their transition to EVs while helping them make immediate and measurable progress toward both near-term and long-term sustainability goals and mandates. It’s important to understand the full landscape of electrification options available when deciding on the best fits for your fleet, so we’ll outline some of those technologies below. Hybrid electric Hybrid electric propulsion is currently the most heavily deployed electrification solution for the fleet industry. These vehicles run on a combination of gas and electric power, so they continue to leverage the internal combustion engine throughout the drive cycle while regularly replenishing their electric power through regenerative braking. This makes them a versatile fit for a wide range of applications, because concerns such as range anxiety and lack of charging infrastructure are eliminated. As a result, they tend to be outstanding options for fleets with little to no access to charging or with variable drive cycles. With smaller batteries and generally fewer individual components, these systems also tend to be the least costly option within the range of electrification solutions, yet they deliver an immediate improvement on fuel economy and sustainability metrics. The hybrid electric drive systems pioneered by XL Fleet, for example, can improve mpg by up to
