Guelph Fleet Fuels Transition and Car Sharing

The City of Guelph will undertake a study designed to significantly reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, by assessing the feasibility of electrifying municipal vehicles and leveraging local car share services to maximize the use of the electrified fleet. City fleet fuels (diesel and gasoline) currently constitute 28% of energy spending, and 66% of GHG emissions for the City. Guelph aims to reduce that figure to at least 52.8%, a reduction of at least 20% from the existing baseline. In the first component of the study, Guelph will identify fleet vehicles with a usage profile that is suitable for electrification. This will be achieved through a program delivered by Local Authority Services (LAS) in partnership with the consultancy FleetCarma. Vehicle telematics devices will be placed in selected vehicles, collecting data associated with relevant characteristics of their usage (starts/stops, average/top speed, distances, grades, maneuvering, etc). A total of 26 cars and SUVs as well as 60-70 light-duty trucks will be included in the feasibility study. Vehicles that will be replaced with plug-in hybrid versions can expect to see a 50% reduction in emissions; those replaced with battery electric versions will see essentially complete elimination of emissions, as they will predominantly be charged during the night when the Ontario grid has a near-zero emissions factor.The second complimentary component of the study will evaluate options for a car sharing program. This will involve moving a portion of the electric vehicle (EV) fleet into a car-sharing service such as Community Car Share Co-operative. This would allow municipal EVs to be utilized outside of business hours by other parties. An initial trial study for the car share option will be conducted within the small-vehicle fleets for the Engineering and Planning departments, and depending on the results of the trial this may be expanded to part or all of the remaining fleet. The program will reduce the City's share of the capital and operating costs for its EVs while simultaneously reducing GHG emissions. It will also add social value, as many car-share members already have a vehicle and use the service instead of acquiring another vehicle. In addition, it has the potential to reduce user concerns regarding EVs (e.g. ‘range anxiety’) and to help members become more comfortable with the idea of transitioning to EV ownership. The study aligns with Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan and the Pan Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, particularly with the federal goal of “putting more zero-emission vehicles on the road”. It also supports the City of Guelph Community Energy Plan as well as Guelph’s City's Community Energy Initiative, which has established policies to undertake programs to reduce annual per-capita GHG emissions by 60% from 2006 levels by 2031.