Plan to go electric

It’s clear that vehicle production is moving to electric, and St. Louis County government is preparing to do its part by electrifying our vehicle fleet and reducing the County’s carbon footprint. In November, the County put its first electric vehicle into its fleet, a Ford F-150 Lightning and also unveiled its 5-year Electric Vehicle plan. The goal of that plan is to convert 27 percent of the light-duty vehicle fleet to electric vehicles by 2027.

The County generally spends more than $79,000 to buy, operate, and maintain a gaspowered new F-150 truck throughout its lifetime. This new F-150 Lightning cost $47,065 to purchase, a slight increase in cost that will be recuperated by decreased fuel and maintenance costs.

“Research shows that electric vehicles are 40 percent less expensive to maintain than internal combustion engine vehicles,” said Mandy La Brier, the County’s Director of Sustainability.

St. Louis County operates a fleet of nearly 1,400 vehicles and out of those, 1,051 are light duty vehicles. These light duty vehicles consist of vans, sedans, SUVs, crossovers, and pickup trucks, and they are the most used vehicles by County employees. The Department of Transportation and Public Works will identify light-duty vehicles that are eligible for replacement with either a battery electric vehicle, plug-in hybrid vehicle, or hybrid electric vehicle. The typical life cycle for a non-police vehicle is 12 years in age or 160,000 miles.