2.3. ERMUSR 09-10-2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Electric Vehicle Fleet Assessment and Suitability Study FleetCarma The topic of greatest interest generated by this initiative to both the policy and utility groups were the results of our Fleet Suitability Assessment. Elk River Municipal Utilities contracted with FleetCarma to provide an Electric Vehicle Fleet Suitability Assessment.The fleet assessment results received a great deal of praise and interest around the state of Minnesota. After presenting the fleet assessment results to the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission and the Elk River City Council, each organization purchased or leased an electric vehicle for use in their respective fleets. The results also captured attention statewide. Other utilities, including investor owned and cooperative utilities, implemented similar studies with interested cities and large businesses. Elk River Municipal Utilities was also able to present our findings to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission as well as key stakeholders including but not limited to joint action agencies and non-governmental advocacy groups. The Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment completed by FleetCarma in December 2017 was a valuable tool for presenting the feasibility of incorporating electric vehicles into the City's and Utilities' vehicle fleets. The conclusions of the assessment provided quantifiable data that allowed our Utility Commission and the City Council to make informed decisions on incorporating EVs into the fleets. The EV Suitability Assessment began with monitoring the driving characteristics of 20 vehicles (12 city-owned and eight utility-owned). Each vehicle was equipped with a data tracker that monitored the daily use of each vehicle for nine months. The major driving characteristics that were measured over the nine-month assessment included acceleration, braking, average speed, idle time, driving time, and distances. From these measurements, Fleetcarma was able to use their proprietary software calculations to calculate a side-by-side comparison of the existing internal combustion vehicles to the most appropriate electric vehicle. The 20 vehicles that were part of the study included sedans, pickup trucks, and SUVs. An important lesson learned was that the vehicle use needs to be well defined prior to the study beginning. The pickup trucks were identified as being able to be replaced with a SUV or sedan when they actually could not because of the work requirements for those vehicles.The pickup trucks are needed for towing and the meter reading vehicles need to have all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive to be fully utilized. 24 63