Energy Efficiency

On August 17, 2022, Mayor Lee Harris signed an executive order establishing a green fleet policy. The policy calls for the replacement of nonessential light duty vehicles with more fuel-efficient passenger cars and trucks. The executive order includes an incremental schedule for transitioning the Mayor’s Administration’s fleet to green vehicles by setting a goal to convert 5 percent by 2027. Thereafter, 20 percent of passenger vehicles procured will be green vehicles. Heavy-duty, off-road, and emergency response vehicles are exempt from this policy; however, if Shelby County procures a green vehicle in these exempt categories, it shall be considered as a passenger vehicle for the purpose of this policy. 

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As of August 2022, the Mayor’s Administration’s fleet has a total of 964 units. The total number light-duty passenger vehicles subject to the green fleet policy is 458. Thirteen, or 2.8 percent, of the vehicles under the policy are currently low or zero emissions. In order for five percent of the fleet to be low or zero emissions to meet the goal set by Mayor Harris, ten additional electric or hybrid vehicles (for a total of 23) will need to be procured. In 2020, Shelby County received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to purchase up to 5 electric vehicles for use by the Department of Roads, Bridges, and Engineering. The project team expects these vehicles to be procured before 2024. When accounting for these vehicles, the Mayor’s Administration will need to procure five additional vehicles prior to 2027 to meet the goal in the executive order. 

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In the analysis of the Shelby County fleet, it was determined that 53 of the 458 applicable vehicles under the green fleet policy would be eligible for replacement within the next two years. There are, additionally, some vehicles already within the fleet that would contribute to the goal, many of which have been procured within the past two years and would not need to be replaced soon. In order to meet the goal to convert five percent of the fleet to green vehicles by 2027, a minimum of five of the 53 applicable vehicles would need to be replaced. 

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After running a life-cycle analysis of the vehicles that would be most appropriate for replacement, there are two lists of candidate vehicles for replacement with hybrid or electric models: one scenario describes the most cost-efficient replacement that will meet the requirements of the executive order, and the other describes the greenest available replacement for the proposed vehicles. To allow for flexibility in selecting vehicles for replacement, ten vehicles have been identified as potentials for replacement in each scenario so that additional candidates for replacement are ready if one of the top candidates needs to be eliminated for any reason.