The City of Courtenay Zero-Emission Vehicles Fleet Transition Plan is a strategic roadmap to guide the gradual replacement of gas and diesel vehicles with electric vehicles while maintaining safe and reliable City services.
In 2024, fleet vehicles used approximately 170,000 litres of fuel, representing 35% of annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from municipal operations. By adopting electric fleet vehicles, the City will save money on fuel and reduce annual GHG emissions to meet provincially legislated greenhouse gas reduction targets, and City of Courtenay Official Community Plan emission targets.
Overview
The City of Courtenay has approximately 100 fleet vehicles, including light-duty passenger vehicles, heavy-duty equipment, and fire department vehicles. These vehicles support services such as parks maintenance, public works, inspections, operations and emergency response.
The Zero-Emission Vehicles Fleet Transition Plan outlines when replacements should occur, considering the age of the vehicle, annual kilometers driven, and availability of reliable electric options on the market. The plan also specifies the charging infrastructure and electrical upgrades needed to support the fleet over time.
The plan calculated the total cost of ownership to maintain a gas and diesel fleet, and to adopt electric vehicles. The total cost of ownership considered the vehicle purchase price, cost of fuel, cost of electricity, cost of maintenance and cost of charging infrastructure.
The total cost of ownership for electric municipal fleet vehicles is lower than that of gas and diesel vehicles. The purchase price is higher, but operating costs are much lower, even when accounting for the cost of charger installation and electrical upgrades.
The total cost of ownership for electric fire trucks is currently higher than that of diesel fire trucks. As a result, the plan calls for the adoption of electric fire trucks at a later date, allowing technology to evolve and the market to mature.
Electric vehicle fleet operations
The City has 19 light duty fleet vehicles in service. These vehicles have demonstrated to be reliable, and capable of supporting multiple days of work on a single charge.
To support charging, the Operations Yard is equipped with five dual head level-2 fleet chargers. The City plans to build fleet charging at other fleet parking locations, as more electric vehicles are incorporated into the fleet.