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Is your community interested in district energy? District energy systems heat many buildings from one source, often capturing and re-using wasted heat energy by way of underground pipes. These systems can heat and cool buildings more efficiently than individual systems can, lowering local GHG emissions and reducing energy costs.  

Join us for an introductory webinar on the benefits of district energy. You’ll hear from district energy experts on common challenges, solutions, opportunities and more.  

In this webinar recording, you’ll:

• Understand if and how district energy fits within your community’s climate action plan 
• Learn about implementation strategies and how to get started
• Find a high-level overview of types of developments, sources of energy or waste heat that can be used in district energy systems
• Hear about FCM’s available funding opportunities and which may be right for you

Speaker:  

• Cimir Bains, Engineering Project Manager, Renewable Energy Systems, City of Edmonton, AB

Electric vehicles (EVs) can benefit Canadian municipalities. By electrifying municipal fleets, local governments can enjoy: 

• Reduced fuel expenses and maintenance costs  
• Improved service to their community 
• Significant environmental benefits including reduced transportation emissions 

The EV market is growing rapidly, and governments are increasingly committed to EV adoption through the development of policies and programs. However, making the switch to EV fleets comes with some common challenges: lack of green fleet business cases, procurement and supply chain issues, insufficient infrastructure and lack of suitable vehicles can present barriers to EV adoption in many municipalities.  

In this series of articles, we explore innovative approaches to scale up municipal EV fleets. Read on for a snapshot of how three municipalities broke through some of these common barriers and crafted unique solutions that could be applied in municipalities across Canada.  

• West Vancouver: Facing common roadblocks related to lack of charging infrastructure? Learn how the city overcame these barriers by conducting a full electrical system update of two key municipal facilities and installing chargers for existing and future EVs.
• Calgary: When municipal staff were tasked with incorporating hybrid and fully electric vehicles into the municipal fleet, they encountered a variety of procurement, operational and process barriers. Learn how they broke through these barriers and acquired more than 30 EVs in 3 years to create one of the fastest growing EV fleets in western Canada. 
• Kingston: Confronted with financial, technological and policy barriers to electrification, the city developed a proactive strategy around a leasing policy to build their EV fleets. Discover how leasing can ease supply chain issues and support electrification until advanced EV technology becomes available in the market.

Images courtesy of the City of Vancouver, the City of Calgary, and the City of Kingston.

This article is part of a series called How communities across Canada are electrifying their municipal fleets. Each article explores an innovative approach to electrifying municipal fleets. The series features inspiring ideas and projects being implemented in Canadian cities and towns of all sizes.

Kingston, ON, is located on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario, with a population of 133,000. When the city committed to converting additional light-duty municipal fleet vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs) upon their scheduled replacement dates, staff faced financial, technological and policy barriers to purchasing EVs. Developing EV leasing agreements allowed the municipality to leverage technological advancements as they become available in the market in the shorter term without committing to longer-term vehicle ownership. Under their current leasing model, Kingston will take delivery of 8 EVs, including seven cross-over Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and one transit electric cargo van and 3 Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) SUVs in 2023-24. This case study outlines certain barriers, corresponding actions, and lessons learned.  

In 2014, Kingston released its Climate Action Plan, committed to reducing 30% greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from municipal operations and fleets by 2030 compared to 2011 and becoming carbon neutral by 2050. In 2017, staff developed a preliminary strategy for EV adoption within the municipal fleet and the community. The following year, a budget was allocated to implement the Kingston EV Strategy. In 2021, the city’s Corporate Fleet Services Department entered into its first agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management to lease 15 Ford Escape Hybrids. These vehicles were received in October 2021. In 2022, an additional leasing agreement was signed with Enterprise Fleet Management to acquire 25 light-duty internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle replacements, which included 8 EVs and 3 PHEVs to supplement their existing fleet of 24 EVs and PHEVs.  

Kingston’s fleet staff faced challenges in acquiring funds for EVs due to competing priorities for initial capital. Moreover, the fleet operators reported battery range anxiety, and the staff faced procurement barriers due to limited vehicle inventory in the market. Additional challenges included the inability to predict lifecycle and replacement costs with the rapidly changing EV technology and procurement challenges for newer EV technology. 

To overcome these challenges, Kingston pursued an EV leasing model. The lack of a municipal leasing policy created a roadblock, which was overcome by collaborating with the city’s finance department. Kingston entered an agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management, a fleet management provider to government organizations and an approved vendor through the Canoe Procurement Group supported by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. Working with a fleet management company allowed Kingston to evaluate EVs from various manufacturers and leverage data compiled from multiple original equipment manufacturers.  

The leasing model allows for testing of vehicles before committing to purchase, trials of various EV makes, models and technology available in the market, and helps drivers with range anxiety. In addition, the leasing approach allows for a turnover of light-duty vehicles every four to five years – bringing down maintenance costs. 

For example, a 10-year leasing agreement for a Hybrid pick-up and EV cargo van is expected to save $16,610 and $11,710, respectively, compared to an outright purchase of a similar fleet asset. The annual fuel economy savings derived from the Geotab Telematics system show approximately 13.5 litres per 100 km, with cost per litre assumed at $1.50 for unleaded gas to establish a baseline fuel cost for comparative purposes. Expected maintenance cost is estimated to reduce by 25%. In addition, Kingston is expected to reduce their carbon emissions by approximately 41.1 metric tons of CO2 per year by replacing the 11 ICE vehicles with 8 EVs and 3 PHEVs. 

Developing a comprehensive EV leasing policy through inter-departmental collaboration streamlines the EV leasing process. As Kingston’s leased EVs begin to arrive, new lessons will be learned about the operationalization of cross-over EVs in the fleet. An evaluation of the leasing model will determine the success of this approach and future actions. 

This article is part of a series called How communities across Canada are electrifying their municipal fleets. Each article explores an innovative approach to electrifying municipal fleets. The series features inspiring ideas and projects being implemented in Canadian cities and towns of all sizes.

The District of West Vancouver is a municipality in British Columbia serving over 44,000 residents. In 2016, West Vancouver adopted the Corporate Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP), which included an objective to adopt a Green Fleet Purchasing Policy to prioritize EVs. Despite barriers described below, the District succeeded in achieving the following: 

• Two electric vehicle (EV)-ready facilities with the first phase of chargers installed and readiness for an additional 8-10 Level 2 chargers.
• 11 new Level 2 charging heads (positioned to service 17 parking stalls, providing fleet parking flexibility).
• 5-year EV Supply Equipment (EVSE) contract in place for networked management.
• 5 EVs were ordered in 2021-22, and 13 EVs are anticipated in 2023-24.

In 2019, Council declared a climate emergency, which provided an opportunity to secure buy-in to overcome charging infrastructure barriers. The first step was to assess the electrical capacity of two key District facilities, which was possible thanks to one-time funding of $50,000 for an EV Charging Study for the District Fleet (EV CSDF), and capital funding of $250,000 - $350,000 to support EV-ready electrical work at the Municipal Hall and Operations Center. With funding to expedite charger installations, the Green Fleet Policy and Procurement Procedures were operationalized in 2021.  

The main challenges were electrical capacity upgrades, COVID-19, and funding.  

Electrical Capacity Upgrades

The inability to access power where chargers were needed, significant existing system loads, and panel deficiencies required necessary and expensive upgrades to the electrical systems to install EV fleet chargers at key facilities. Managing concurring activities such as contractor coordination and scheduling while various electrical and/or infrastructure upgrades were undertaken at each site simultaneously led to the need for Engineering, Facilities and Finance departments to oversee contractor coordination collectively.  

COVID-19

The global pandemic affected the construction costs, raised prices of EV chargers, and increased the wait times for EVs. In addition, supply chain issues continue to impact the procurement of EV pick-ups and trucks.

Funding

Securing funding to overcome the charging barrier required a catalyst – which staff found in the Council’s climate emergency declaration. The EV CSDF was crucial in providing all involved staff with the technical understanding of available charger and vehicle technology, anticipated charging needs, and 20-year road maps under two emissions reduction scenarios. In 2022, Council adopted an Environmental Levy as an ongoing funding source to support future work on EV & charger purchases – removing the funding barrier. 

The electrical capacity upgrades removed a significant barrier to fleet electrification and supports future EV adoption that further assists the achieving of the Corporate GHG reduction targets. Scenario 1 of the EV CSDF is geared to replace 55 existing fleet vehicles with EVs by 2030, resulting in an annual GHG reduction of 310 tonnes. There are also anticipated long-term operational benefits, such as reduced operating costs, that are associated with the transition to EVs and the use of newer technology. 

An important lesson learned was leveraging momentum of the climate emergency declaration to move quickly, demonstrating near-term investment results. The Finance Department demonstrated strong support for EV-readiness work, providing procurement support and flexible funding solutions. In turn, this project demonstrated the scale of funding required to implement municipal climate action objectives. This supported the development of the District’s new Environmental Levy, which Council adopted to provide stable, longer-term funding for this type of work.  

As vehicles begin to arrive, new lessons will be learned about operationalizing EVs in the fleet – charging management with staff, navigating charging requirements, potential impacts on staff parking, monitoring emissions and operating cost benefits. 

This article is part of a series called How communities across Canada are electrifying their municipal fleets. Each article explores an innovative approach to electrifying municipal fleets. The series features inspiring ideas and projects being implemented in Canadian cities and towns of all sizes.

Calgary is the largest city in Alberta, with a population of 1,306,784. In a move to electrify its fleet, Calgary’s fleet staff faced numerous procurement, operational, and process barriers. Nevertheless, Calgary acquired over 30 light-duty electric vehicles (EVs) and two electric ice resurfacers over two years (2020-22) – and has one of the largest non-transit EV fleets in western Canada. This case study outlines barriers, actions to circumvent them, and lessons learned. 

In 2016, Calgary’s fleet staff developed the first Green Fleet Strategy, providing general guidelines for PHEV and EV acquisition. In 2020, the strategy was updated to cover all corporate fleets and generated multi-departmental buy-in. Calgary declared a climate emergency in 2021, enabling a shift in priorities and justifying the acquisition of electric vehicles. The Green Fleet Strategy included a goal to acquire 300 EVs between 2023-2026 (approximately 25% of their light-duty fleet). 

Staff faced challenges as the existing procurement process was restrictive, and existing vendors provided limited EV options. Fleet operators had range and functionality anxiety, including the efficiency of Power Take Off compared to an internal combustion engine car and the extra effort in planning for charging an EV. Additionally supply chain issues led to significantly higher costs to procure EVs as compared to their traditional counterparts.  

Staff overcame these barriers by developing a Green Option Procurement Strategy that provided procurement flexibility to purchase EVs whenever they became available and over the strategy’s timeline. For example, if the city has a contract for ¾-ton pickups, and the manufacturer releases an EV version during the contract period, they can buy that unit under the contract without going back to the market. The city’s climate emergency declaration expedited a social and environmental case to adopt EVs over a purely economic one. The city acquired additional funding to offset the incremental costs of EVs and charging infrastructure through internal funding and from the capital budget.  

The city purchases renewable electricity, reducing typical ICEV emissions from 170.6gCO2e/km to effectively 0 for EVs. Fleet staff estimate emissions reduction of 2400tCO2e/year by 2026 by switching to EVs (excluding emissions from manufacture and disposal). Beyond meeting Calgary’s greenhouse gas reduction targets, the city has realized many social and environmental benefits of EV adoption. Fleet electrification is changing staff’s perception, and a growing number of fleet operators are switching to EVs as their personal vehicles and have adopted anti-idling behaviour outside of work. 

Calgary’s fleet staff are using NASA’s Technology Readiness Levels tool to access EV technology and justify decision-making in purchasing technology. It considers the impact on operator safety, lifecycle cost, and impact on maintenance facilities. Staff use this tool to compare EV technology with other fueling technologies to determine suitability for EV technology adoption. 

Calgary will continue procuring different classes of vehicles, scanning for green options, applying for additional funding and streamlining purchasing decisions.

“If it was easy, someone would have already done it!” - Adam, Manager, Fleet Services