Switching To Electric Vehicles Would Save Milwaukee County Money

Milwaukee County Courthouse. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

The Milwaukee County Transit System‘s more than 300 buses aren’t the only vehicles Milwaukee County is eyeing for electrification.

The county also maintains a fleet of vehicles that are used for a range of government activities from patrolling the expressways by the Milwaukee County Sheriff‘s Office to maintaining the county’s natural areas by Milwaukee County Parks‘ forestry teams. A new analysis suggests that electrifying the fleet will save the county money and greatly reduce its emissions footprint.

For the past few years, county officials have begun working on a plan to make the government carbon-neutral by 2050. Legislation passed in 2021 by the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors committed the county to pursue this goal, as well as a 45% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels. These goals and the benchmark year of 2005 are standards that were set by the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015.

Officials have already begun investigating the county’s current emissions footprint and identifying areas where the effort to green the government can begin. The 2023 budget included $2,000 for membership to Wisconsin Clean Cities, a nonprofit recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy as one of 75 Clean Cities coalitions supporting energy-efficient technologies and practices across the U.S.

The organization analyzed the prospects of fleet electrification for the county and looked at 182 different vehicles across the county’s fleet.

It found that if a vehicle has an electric alternative, the county will save money over the life-cycle of the vehicle by going electric. The analysis put a premium on this lifecycle cost given the volatile nature of fuel prices. And of all the alternative fuel options, including hybrid platforms, diesel and bio-diesel, the electric vehicles had by far the lowest emissions footprint.

For example, if the sheriff’s department were to replace its squad cars with new Ford Mach-E Mustangs, it could save an estimated $715,000 over 10 years, according to the analysis. The electric Mustangs also emit a fraction of the greenhouse gases that other squad options do. A similar pattern plays out when looking at switching over passenger vehicles and work vans.

The analysis does not provide a roadmap for fleet electrification but is merely a reference for policymakers or government officials interested in pursuing a policy of electrification.

That said, the report notes that there is already “a significant amount of electric vehicle charging infrastructure” in Milwaukee County and that if the county were to build its own electric vehicle infrastructure, there may be “opportunities for funding and collaboration if stations are available for public access.”

The City of Milwaukee is also moving to electrify its fleet and has a formal policy on how to do so.

The full report is available on Urban Milwaukee.