City of Durham
At a Glance
Industry
Government/Public Administration
Project Types
Engagement and Behavior Change, Financial Evaluation and Planning, Zero Emission Vehicles, Freight and Logistics
Year
2024
Location
Durham, NC
Summary
Shubhangi Gupta found that three types of MHDVs in the City of Durham's Fleet were financially viable to electrify.
Goals
The City of Durham has the ambitious goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. Since 43% of the City's total greenhouse gas emissions come from fleet vehicles, transitioning the City's vehicle fleet to all-electric is critical. While the City has begun transitioning its light-duty vehicles and transit buses to EVs, they enlisted Shubhangi Gupta to research how to electrify the City's 400+ Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles (MHDVs).
Solutions
To ensure a robust case for MHDV Fleet Electrification, Gupta employed a holistic five-pronged approach to assessing the viability of electric MHDVs:
1. Assigning a dollar value to the total lifetime cost of owning and operating an electric vs internal combustion engine vehicle for each of the City's MHDVs to identify financially viable electric alternatives.
2. Gathering experiences and recommendations from peer cities that have already piloted electric MHDVs.
3. Garnering insights on needs, challenges and willingness of the City's departments to transition these vehicles to electric.
4. Assessing the scale and cost of the charging infrastructure needed to power these electric vehicles.
5. Identifying sources of funding to defray the high upfront cost of the vehicles and charging infrastructure.
Potential Impact
Gupta found that 60 MHDV , including refuse trucks, pup trucks and medium-duty vans, are financially viable to electrify and would lead to cost savings worth $7-9 million over their lifetime, reducing 2,270 MTCO2e of emissions. The City plans to demo and pilot these three types of electric MHDV in the short term and expand the scope based on the success of the pilot, and the expanded availability of MHDV options.