Monday, June 2, 2025, 9:30 a.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall
Committee: Climate, Water, Environment, and Parks Committee
0:05 Morning everybody. I am going to call our meeting to order.
0:13 I am Council Member Ryan Alter the chair of the climate water environment and parks committee.
0:18 We are at City Hall at 9 31.
0:22 Joined here by council members uchin and Siegel.
0:25 I know Council Member Ellis is gonna be joining us remotely.
0:29 And with that, I think, uh, we have no speakers, so we're just going to kick it off
0:36 with, uh, an approval of the minutes item number one.
0:39 So is there a, a motion to approve the minutes?
0:42 Uh, councillor Siegel moves second by councillor uchin.
0:45 Uh, no objections. That item is approved.
0:50 We're just gonna dive right into item number two.
0:52 This is a briefing on city facility electric vehicle charging infrastructure and ev fleet projections.
0:59 And I will invite up zach balmer, the director of the office of climate action and resilience, as
1:06 well as rick harland from fleet mobility services.
1:09 I'm there. Council Member vice chair Ellis has joined us.
1:12 Good morning. Hi,
1:19 good morning council committee.
1:20 Uh, I'm zach baumer, uh, director of the office of climate action resilience and to hear.
1:26 And here today we are here to give you an update on city fleet electrification.
1:32 Um, over the past, this, this group of folks here from fleet and Austin energy parks, multiple departments
1:38 in my department, um, obviously have been coordinating, working together for years and years on this topic.
1:45 Um, but in the last couple months we got together to put together this briefing and up with
1:50 me speaking today. Um, and these are some of my favorite people to collaborate and work with, uh,
1:55 across the city organization are rick harland with fleet mobility services and cameron friedberg with Austin energy and
2:03 sarah talkington with parks and rec, rec parks and recreation.
2:07 Uh, so I'm gonna kick off the presentation and then pass it to them and they're gonna give
2:11 their, uh, section to this presentation.
2:19 Thanks. Okay. So, um, so some of the, um, the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants
2:34 that, that cause ozone in our air quality problems come from on-road vehicles.
2:39 So, uh, the largest sector of, of greenhouse gas emissions is on-road transportation.
2:44 Uh, the largest sector of, um, nox and vocs, which causes ozone is also some form on-road transportation.
2:52 So those two sectors are really essential, um, to manage and look at new technologies and implement solutions,
3:00 um, to reduce those pollutants to make a big difference for climate change and air pollution in our
3:05 region. Uh, our goal for, um, for electric vehicles from the climate equity plan is to get to
3:13 electrification of 40% of viable fleet vehicle miles traveled by 2030.
3:19 That supports our overarching climate target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.
3:25 Uh, the key thing with fleet electrification is that we really need to focus on the use case,
3:30 the technology infrastructure readiness, um, to implement those solutions that will be successful.
3:36 Um, so you're gonna hear from, um, a lot more from fleet that we're really, really focusing on
3:41 viability thre thresholds to inform our investments to make sure that we are investing in the right vehicles
3:47 that save us money, that maximize pollutant reductions, um, and really maximize benefits for the city of Austin.
3:55 So, uh, in terms of battery electric vehicles and how much progress we've made, we have 373 battery
4:02 electric vehicles currently in the fleet.
4:04 Uh, last year they drove 1.8 million electric vehicle miles, um, over the course of that year.
4:10 So that is significant progress.
4:12 When you just think about 373 vehicles, that's a lot of vehicles.
4:16 Um, over the course of the next two, four years, by, by 2030 we will be to over
4:22 700 battery electric vehicles in the fleet.
4:25 We're prioritizing high usage units, departmental readiness, and really trying to right find that right fit where we
4:32 maximize emission reductions and maximize cost savings.
4:35 'Cause as you're gonna hear, there's a right way to do this and there's a way that costs
4:39 the city more money.
4:40 Um, we also have edf fellow this summer who starts in a couple weeks here, who's gonna partner
4:46 with our office fleet and a rr to look at, uh, electrification in the right way to elect
4:51 future electrify and plan for the electrification of the a rr fleet.
4:56 Um, and you're gonna hear about pilot programs with heavy duty and public safety vehicles across the organization.
5:02 So after you get those electric vehicles in the door, you have to have charging infrastructure.
5:06 'Cause if you don't have the infrastructure and it's not in the right place, um, electric vehicles don't
5:10 work. So we currently have 282 dedicated fleet charging ports on city facilities.
5:16 Um, that's by the end of this year.
5:18 And then we'll be to almost 500 ports at city facilities by 2030.
5:23 Um, we also have a major infrastructure modeling project underway that you're gonna hear about from Austin energy,
5:29 um, to inform our site selection, charging access grid alignment, to really make sure that as we scale
5:35 this to hundreds and then thousands of vehicles, that we do it in the right way.
5:38 That is, again, cost effective and maximizes emission reductions.
5:43 Um, and then finally, um, this isn't really, uh, a landscape.
5:48 A landscape equipment is not really, um, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, but it is, um,
5:55 an sort of outsized emitter of, um, of air pollutants and really, um, has an outsized impact on
6:02 air pollution in our community.
6:03 So we know this has been an important, um, topic for City Council.
6:08 So part is gonna give, uh, an update on a study that's underway in collaboration with my office
6:13 to assess cost and usability and market readiness of implementation of electric landscaping equipment.
6:19 Um, and then talk about, uh, a pilot that we're gonna run with part in the coming years.
6:23 And that really should support our broader transition to get away from, um, small engines in two strokes,
6:29 which sort of have this outsize, uh, emissions impact.
6:32 So, uh, that's the, the executive summary.
6:35 We are gonna have three sections to this presentation.
6:38 Fleet is gonna talk through fleet vehicle electrification.
6:42 Uh, then cameron is gonna come up and talk about charging infrastructure.
6:45 And then finally, landscaping equipment.
6:48 Rick,
6:59 thank you zach, I appreciate that.
7:02 Uh, good morning council members.
7:03 My name is rick harlan.
7:04 I'm assistant director at fleet mobility services.
7:07 Um, fleet electrification is one of the most actionable and measurable ways that we can, uh, contribute to
7:14 the climate equity plan.
7:16 Every electric vehicle that we deploy reduces greenhouse gas emissions, improves local air quality, supports healthier communities, especially
7:24 in frontline neighborhoods that are most impacted by pollution.
7:28 By aligning our fleet strategy with the city's climate equity goals, we're building a transportation system that's cleaner,
7:35 more resilient, and more just as zach mentioned earlier, the fleet traveled 43.8 million miles in 2024, the battery
7:44 electric vehicle fleet traveled 1.8 million miles.
7:47 That's 10% of the climate equity plan goal today, which is 18 million miles.
7:58 So I'm here to share with you how we stand and how far we've come with the transition
8:02 of the largest, one of the largest municipal fleets in texas towards electrification.
8:07 Fleet electrification isn't just a goal, it's something that we're actively building every day with real deployment, real
8:13 data, and real infrastructure.
8:16 What I'd like to do today is provide a quick look at what our fleet actually is, because
8:19 understanding that is essential to identifying the opportunities before us.
8:26 So what is the fleet that we're trying to electrify today?
8:30 The city of Austin operates one of the most diverse mission critical fleets in texas, supporting everything from
8:36 police, patrol, fire response, refuse collection, and power line repair, something that we all appreciate much last week
8:45 to make this opportunity, uh, to make this complexity more digestible, we've broken the fleet down into core
8:52 vehicle categories so that you can clearly see where electrification is viable today.
8:57 Electrifying the fleet isn't about swapping sedans, it's about aligning technology cycles, service requirements, and community needs.
9:06 Understanding that complexity is the key to setting realistic, impactful goals for fleet electrification.
9:19 So what's viable today?
9:20 You could see on this graph here on this pie chart that only 29% of our fleet has
9:25 a viable bev option today.
9:28 And that's exactly where we've focused our effort.
9:31 We've already begun deploying these units, building, charging infrastructure, aligning with the city goals and why we'd love
9:36 to electrify everything tomorrow.
9:38 Reality is that some equipment categories simply don't have a viable bev option yet we're tracking that, we're
9:45 testing it, we're ready to move when the market catches up with us.
9:50 So what I'm showing you today is not a barrier, it's a roadmap.
9:53 It's how we turn vision into sustained progress, not just ambition.
9:59 We're laser focused on that 29% and that's where real progress is happening.
10:04 We're testing the rest, we're tracking the market daily, and we'll move when technology catches up with us.
10:13 So here's how we stack up.
10:15 Austin isn't chasing the ev market.
10:17 We're leading it where it makes operational sense.
10:19 In 20 24, 8 0.2% of our ve new vehicle purchases were battery electric vehicles compared to the market national
10:26 market at 7.9. Since 2017, we've averaged a 10% bev adoption.
10:33 That's nearly double the national average.
10:35 We're not waiting. We're building the infrastructure, deploying the vehicles, and executing a long-term strategy that works.
10:43 And this isn't just a pilot, it's a citywide shift.
10:46 Over 86% of our departments are actively participating in this transition, not just early adopters.
10:57 So this is what's on the ground today, not a plan, not a projection.
10:59 We have, as zach mentioned, 373 battery electric vehicles in service.
11:04 And we'll have right at 400 by the end of the year that's already delivered 2.5 million in lifetime
11:10 savings in real fuel and real maintenance savings across the departments.
11:15 On the infrastructure side, we will have 282 charging ports installed by the end of the year with
11:21 more under construction. We're averaging 1.3 vehicles per level two charging port, which is a healthy and balanced
11:29 ratio. But we know level two isn't the whole story.
11:33 To normalize refueling, the refueling experience for higher demand vehicles, we're actively overlaying dc fast charge where it
11:40 makes sense operationally.
11:47 So here's something that we're very excited about.
11:50 As we transition towards a more electrified and sustainable fleet, were taking a disciplined data-driven approach, scaling through
11:58 targeted pilot programs. Each pilot was selected not because of the technology that exists, but because operational conditions
12:05 are right. And because we can measure real outcomes that inform future investments.
12:11 In partnership with a pd, we're introducing a battery electric police pursuit rated vehicle to frontline law enforcement
12:18 operations. These vehicles account for 18 million miles by themselves annually or 40% of the total vehicle miles for
12:25 the fleet, and have the highest idle time in the entire fleet.
12:29 The units are already on the ground and have spent time at the training academy and a formal
12:33 launch. Communication to council is forthcoming.
12:38 We're also piloting electric refuse trucks, our hardest working highest cost per mile segment of our entire fleet.
12:46 These units provide a perfect test case for evaluating electric vehicle performance under heavy duty daily cycles.
12:54 These pilots allow us to assess real world duty cycles, evaluate reliability, charging logistics and maintenance requirements before
13:02 making large scale capital investments.
13:06 Our strategy is simple.
13:07 Prove it first, scale it second.
13:11 This staged approach reduces risk, ensures taxpayers dollars are used wisely and builds internal readiness for long-term transformation.
13:20 The insights we're gaining now are already shaping our 2026 to 2030 procurement projections and helping us align
13:29 bev adoption with infrastructure build out and funding cycles.
13:37 So what's next? We've made significant progress electrifying our fleet where market ready options exist.