Municipal Climate Change Action Centre (MCCAC) and the city of Cold Lake are studying if the city can transition to electric fleet vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Nagoya says the city is always looking for opportunities to reduce its carbon footprint and implement greener ways of doing business.
“There are a few things we need to know before the City is able to commit to integrating electric vehicles into our fleet. How much can we cut our greenhouse gas emissions? What type of cost savings would we see? This study will help answer some of those questions.”
A feasibility study will look to find the economic, overall cost, and environmental impacts of transitioning to electric vehicles.
Cold Lake will receive matching funds for the study from the Electric Vehicles for Municipalities program at $12,000. If Cold Lake chooses to continue with the electric vehicles MCCAC says it would help with funding.
Nagoya says electric vehicles are the way of the future but it is a big undertaking, as not only are EVs more expensive to purchase, but the municipality must also factor in the costs of building the infrastructure for charging these vehicles at all of our facilities and worksites.
“We all know, that winters in Cold Lake can be rough. We need to be sure that an electric vehicle would be just as dependable and resilient to get the job done as the vehicles and equipment we’re using now.”
The study will be conducted through the summer and then the findings will be presented to Council in the fall.