Analysis
In collaboration with all city departments, the Environment & Sustainability (E&S) and Fleet Departments completed a fleet assessment using data from June 2015 through May 2016 with the goal of identifying ways of improving the efficiency of our fleet, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The fleet assessment is part of the city’s resiliency strategy to reduce its impact on the environment by mitigating the effects of climate change.
In 2015, the City of Miami Beach joined the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (formerly known as the Compact of Mayors) pledging to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, track progress towards GHG reduction goals and enhance the city’s resiliency to climate change. As part of this pledge, the City has been annually compiling its community wide and government operations GHG emissions inventories with 2014 as the baseline. The City’s fleet accounted for about 22% of its total greenhouse gas emissions for 2014 and 2015. In 2015, the City government operations’ total emissions accounted for almost 3% of the community wide emissions. Fleet emissions were the largest emissions source for government operations after municipal facilities. Thus, the fleet is one of the City’s main targets to reduce its GHG emissions for government operations.
In order to compile the data for the fleet assessment, the automatic vehicle locator (AVL) data for all departments was gathered for the period between June 30, 2015 and May 30, 2016. The AVL reports for each vehicle provided the miles traveled, the time the engine was turned on, and the idle time for that vehicle each day during the report period. The following was calculated for each vehicle: total miles traveled during report period, average idling time, average miles traveled in a day, average miles traveled in a month, and lifetime fuel efficiency. Then, the data was organized by department and analyzed as a whole.
E&S and Fleet staff met with each department to understand their fleet operations, discuss their fleet usage behavior, and together identify opportunities to improve the efficiency of their fleet. Different alternatives and possible pilot programs were presented and discussed, including: Uber/Lyft business account, vehicle pool, car share program, bicycle program, electric vehicles (EVs), and hybrids. We received feedback from each department about the feasibility of these programs and compiled a list of these considerations in the Fleet Assessment (Attachment A).
Uber/Lyft Business account
Having an Uber/Lyft business could help departments reduce the number of vehicles in their fleet. A business account allows the account manager to restrict access to the account to certain employees and set geographic parameters for the areas where access to the account is permitted.
Most departments agreed using Uber/Lyft would be useful for trips to meetings, especially on occasions where parking is difficult. It would allow staff to take advantage of that time to continue working during their ride and would allow the other vehicles in their fleet to be used during the whole duration of their meeting. It could also help save time for staff and reduce stress. In all, it could help departments use their limited resources more efficiently. If a department elects to open an Uber/Lyft account and give away a vehicle, then they could see savings on fuel, maintenance and repair costs. The average maintenance, repair, and fuel expenses for a compact car in the City’s fleet total to $1,734 annually. That is equivalent to $0.49 per mile driven, on average. This does not account for the cost of purchase of a compact car, about $19,800 for a “fully loaded” Ford Focus[1]. When comparing the cost of a ride with Uber/Lyft to a trip using a City compact car, the price of driving a City compact car is significantly less expensive in most scenarios. When a trip would include parking, such as driving to a meeting at the Miami-Dade County, then the cost difference decreases. For example, the estimated cost of a round-trip with Uber/Lyft to the County is $29.64 and the estimated cost of driving a city car (taking into consideration maintenance, repair, and fuel) adding parking costs is $23.02. However, a deeper economic analysis would be needed in order to analyze these costs and cost savings for departments with Uber/Lyft accounts as well as for the collective compact vehicles in the city fleet.
Vehicle pool program
A vehicle pool is a way of assembling vehicles in a central location so that multiple departments may use them. This provides a way for individual departments to have fewer vehicles while still having access to some when all vehicles in their fleet are in use. The creation of the vehicle pool would be initiated by departments turning in their vehicle so that it could be assigned to the pool.
Many departments have expressed interest in joining a vehicle pool but only a couple of them were ready to give up a vehicle for the pool. Many mentioned they need to have vehicles on hand to respond to urgent calls. While no department uses their entire fleet on any given day throughout the analysis period, the average usage of compact vehicles across all departments was almost 70% during weekdays. Additionally, many vehicles hold special equipment that is essential for staff to perform daily operations. Since a central location is needed for vehicles to be pooled so that it is convenient for departments in different buildings to participate there is a limit to the number of vehicles that could be used in a vehicle pool and the combination of departments that could participate together. Furthermore, several departments have already transferred one or more vehicles from their fleet to another department in need.
Car Share program
A car share program would eliminate the number of vehicles the city owns and allow employees to borrow them when needed to fulfill their responsibilities. However, there are no car share programs currently operating in the city. A car share company previously doing business in the city pulled out from the Miami Beach market once their economic model proved unsuccessful due to the increasing popularity of ridesharing apps.
Bicycle program
A number of departments, including Code, Parking and Police, incorporate bicycles into their fleet, especially during special events\periods with high traffic. After their fleet assessment interview, the Building Department initiated a bicycle program pilot. The pilot has been successful and this program is being extended to additional employees.
The bicycle program is an ideal fit for departments with inspectors that can carry all of their equipment on the bicycle. It is important to remember that bicycle use is weather-dependent so a back-up plan is required for days that are not appropriate for bike riding.
Electric Vehicles (EVs)
EVs do not emit any emissions when they are driven. Since most of our region’s electricity is produced from natural gas, the emissions due to the electricity used to charge an EV are less than the emissions due to gasoline or diesel in an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle.
After the fleet assessment interview, in June 2017, the Parking Department purchased the city’s first EV. On average, a standard Ford Focus in the Parking Department travelled 5,852 miles in the report time period. Consequently, the purchase of the Ford Focus Electric to replace one of their vehicles should reduce their emissions by 1.72 MT CO2e annually. That is equivalent to the CO2 sequestered by 44 tree seedlings grown for 10 years.
Other departments have expressed interest in purchasing EVs or Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs), which are smaller, low-speed, electric vehicles. Some of the considerations include the necessary charging station infrastructure and location for this infrastructure. Also, a factor that was brought up is the opportunity to purchase foreign vehicles that are more technologically advanced than domestically available vehicles. In addition, the allocation of funds would be essential for the transition to EVs. A Ford Focus costs approximately $19,740, a Ford C-Max Hybrid costs approximately $24,334; and a Ford Focus Electric costs approximately $28,324.
Hybrid Vehicles
A hybrid vehicle has a traditional internal-combustion engine as well as an electric motor with a battery pack. A central feature of hybrids is regenerative breaking which is a function that generates electricity when some of the vehicle’s momentum is absorbed during breaking or slowing down. There are currently 21 hybrids in the City’s fleet, a mix of Ford C-max hybrids and Ford Fusion hybrids.
The process of “greening” our fleet will be a combination of right-sizing, establishing vehicle pool and bicycle programs, creating Uber/Lyft business accounts, and replacing Ford Focus vehicles with hybrids and/or EVs. As each department goes through the process of replacing their Ford Focus, it is recommended that they work with the Fleet Department to consider replacing it with a hybrid or EV, when feasible. This would encourage the city to transition to a less polluting fleet of low-emissions and no-emissions vehicles. It is crucial that funding is available to enable this transition.
While the fleet assessment was solely focused on identifying opportunities to use our city fleet more efficiently, many employees expressed their interest in commuting to work through more environmentally conscious means such as biking, carpooling, public transit, hybrid vehicles, and EVs if the city provided incentives.
The City has commissioned a comprehensive review of vehicle use by the Matrix Consulting Group (Matrix). As part of this process, each department will be developing an organizational chart for vehicles assigned to their department that associates vehicles to programs, functions, and staff and will provide additional information such as if the vehicles are tied to a pool versus a driver and reasons for low use. Matrix is evaluating the need for each and every vehicle, department by department. When that exercise is complete and a new baseline is developed, we can employ a more strategic approach to fleet purchases and performance.
Further analysis is needed to identify a suitable scenario for transition to low-/no-emissions vehicles and policy direction. This analysis would require examination of: financial strategy/platform used to replace vehicles, funding availability, and lifecycle of current compact vehicles and their projected replacement timeline. Additionally, the analysis should also consider how other cities are electrifying their fleet, such as the City of Coral Gables which purchased 20 EVs for its fleet in 2016 (and currently has 43 EVs in its fleet). The City of Coral Gables was able to use a lease to own program along with incentives from Nissan to help take advantage of tax incentives and lower the cost of the EVs. Nissan also provided the City of Coral Gables two fast charging stations for their large purchase of Nissan Leaf vehicles.
[1] The “fully loaded” price of the Ford Focus includes dealer warranty, extra keys, AVL system, emergency flashers, fuel management system, and graphics.