If the goal is to reduce carbon emissions and have more electric vehicles on the road, having the infrastructure in place to support these goals is key. One city that has taken strides in that direction is the city of Knoxville, Tenn.

Dawn Michelle Foster, deputy director of the  Knoxville Office of Sustainability, said, “For more than a decade, the city of Knoxville has worked to make Knoxville a greener, more sustainable city — one where the economy, environment and community can thrive today and in the future.”

Foster added, “We set goals back in 2008 to reduce GHG (greenhouse Gas) emissions 20% by 2020 (baseline 2005), and we met those goals.”

But she explained Knoxville had increased its population, its new businesses and housing, so the city council adopted two new goals in 2001 to combat climate change. The first was to have a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 in city operations and an 80% reduction by 2050 for the community.

According to Foster, Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon convened the Mayor’s Climate Council to identify and evaluate strategies to achieve the goal of reducing emissions by 80% across the community by 2050.

“This task force brought fresh perspectives to past successes, priorities and lessons learned from other communities,” she said. “The outcome from MCC produced strategies for Knoxville’s 2021 Energy and Sustainability Work Plan per sectors (transportation, buildings/energy and waste).”

According to Foster, transportation emissions in Knoxville in 2019 made up approximately 59% of the community’s greenhouse gas emissions so officials came up with strategies to reduce GHG emissions, and the MCC “prioritized the acceleration of electric vehicles to benefit the community health by reducing the amount of tailpipe emissions — especially in our underserved and overburdened neighborhoods.”

Steps the city took to further this goal included adding EV charging stations free for the public to use.

Foster said, “Currently, the city of Knoxville’s Office of Sustainability maintains 36 charging ports at 13 sites throughout the city. Basically, these locations are housed on city-owned properties (parks, public parking garages, event facilities, etc.) and are offered free to the public. These free EV charging stations are within the Knoxville city limits.”

Overall, there are more than 50 public and private charging stations that drivers can access in the city of Knoxville and Knox County.

“However, most vendors are not installing charging stations in areas where barriers might keep drivers from considering EVs,” Foster said. “To make sure that public services are distributed equitably, the city has developed two new tools — a public survey and a location suitability map to change the way we deploy EV charges in Knoxville. Using our tools and combining it with a nearby city property or facilities helps us to address range anxiety for EV drivers and reduce gaps for charging availability in communities often overlooked.”

City’s green fleet policy

The city of Knoxville adopted a green fleet policy in 2021, but Fleet Services Director Nicholas Bradshaw said the city had already taken steps prior to that.

“It was pretty organic as market forces and desire from administration to embrace more green, sustainable principles,” Bradshaw said.

“We purchased our first EVs in 2018 — a couple of Nissans — but we really kicked it in high gear in 2021 when we adopted the green fleet policy,” he said.

“The green fleet policy uses a total cost of ownership (TCO) model to evaluate future purchasing and the policy outlines a five-tier system where the highest, cleanest tier should be purchased if the technology is available,” Foster said.

According to Foster, Tier 1 includes only zero-emission vehicles; Tier 2 is an alternative fuel vehicle; Tier 3 is a hybrid vehicle; Tier 4 is gasoline vehicles; and Tier 5 is diesel vehicles.

Bradshaw was involved in creating the green fleet policy and said, “It’s a framework for how we consider green alternatives in our normal vehicle replacement — which we do every year. It makes us more intentional about selecting green alternatives.”

He said the fleet replaces in the neighborhood of 150 vehicles of all shapes and sizes — they’re not all on-the-road vehicles as the figure includes lawn mowers, too.

“The green fleet policy helped us pause and ask if there’s a green alternative, and if so, are they practical and affordable? And if the answer is yes, that’s what we do,” Bradshaw said.

He gave the example of if the city needs to replace a 2018 Ford Fusion, it won’t necessarily replace it with another Fusion if there is a green alternative.

“It’s not rocket science, but once we adopted the policy, we’ve made real progress over the last two years,” he said.

Aside from electric vehicles, Knoxville also purchases vehicles that use other alternative fuels or are hybrids.

When asked about heavy-duty equipment, he noted the fleet hasn’t replaced much diesel equipment.

“There are some options available, but the expense and ROI are not there on the heavy stuff.”

He said there are some smaller street sweepers available and added that “the heavy-duty truck industry is always 10 years behind, but they’ll get there!”

He added it’s a matter of being a good steward, too, stating that it makes more sense to add 20 sedans and pickups for half the price of one heavy-duty vehicle.

The fleet services department has replaced mostly small, light-duty sedans that are not used for emergency purposes in departments like the inspection department, engineering department and parks and recreation.

Performance-wise, Bradshaw believes the EVs are “as good or better than their traditional counterpart.”

He added it might not be his first choice for long-distance trips across states, although it can be done with proper planning of one’s route. However, he said, “Everything we do is 99.9% done in town, and we’re done by the end of the day and can charge overnight. That alleviates any range longevity fears.”

Bradshaw said the EVs are “cleaner and have less maintenance — you don’t have to change filters and fuel costs are nonexistent. So, it’s a good investment, especially these days. Earlier the premium upfront costs on the sedans were higher, but now it more than makes up that difference in lower maintenance and lower fuel costs. It’s a really good ROI.”

Upfront costs for EVs are much closer to gas-powered traditional vehicles now, with Bradshaw noting, “It’s nothing like it used to be.”

There are more options available as far as brands now, too, according to the fleet director. Bradshaw said the city has also added a couple of EV pickup trucks now that manufacturers have 150-type pickups that are more economical.

With the supply chain, electric vehicles are in the same or better position.

“We’ve been able to get our EV pickups and sedans in a few months — depending on the bid process — but I would not say it’s worse,” he said.

Bradshaw reported the city has a total of 1,600 fleet assets, which include golf carts, lawn mowers, etc.

“We’ve converted all of our zero-turn mowers to renewable propane — not electric — but it’s much cleaner and more affordable,” he said.

Knoxville has approximately 20-25 electric vehicles on the road right now and about 120 electric golf carts, and it has converted to electric forklifts, too.

“It seems everyone’s interested in on-the-road vehicles, but there’s more than that to having a green, sustainable fleet,” he said. “It’s a multipronged approach.”

Bradshaw said the fleet did a study on the cost savings of replacing internal combustion engines with electric and found it saved 2/3 on maintenance costs and a lot of fuel savings. The study determined the fleet made its money back in six years — and that was back when the initial purchase price was higher. He said the city keeps vehicles for 10 years. Bradshaw determined the city is likely saving at least a couple of thousands of dollars per vehicle purchased.

Each department has some EVs, and by the end of the year, every city department will have at least one electric vehicle. Knoxville has not yet replaced emergency vehicles but is working on procuring a police sedan. The concern during that process has not been for performance, but how to take in all the added expense of upfitting vehicles with light packages, etc.

“You can’t do everything all at once, so we’re trying to be smart about it — methodical — so we started with a pilot and we’re moving forward,” he said.

Bradshaw spoke at a national conference on the topic of fleet electrification and advised attendees, “Don’t be intimidated by it; be methodical and practical. Try to overcome anxieties; you don’t have to convert everything overnight — answer questions, give information and don’t get overwhelmed.”

Foster shared that Bradshaw’s fleet department has been recognized for the past four years as one of the 100 Best Fleets in America by the National Association of Fleet Administrators. In 2023, Knoxville’s fleet department was also recognized as one of the 50 Leading Fleets in America by Government Fleet Magazine and the American Public Works Association.

Foster concluded, “Capacity and reliability are necessary for the operation of a competent EV fleet. The Office of Sustainability has hired professional services for engineering designs for the electrical upgrades necessary to support the EV infrastructure for the city’s newest electrified EV fleet. The electrical upgrades and charging ports are estimated at $200,000. This project is funded by the department’s capital requests in the mayor’s FY 2022-2023 budget. We have not pursued grants for fleet EV charging and have focused grants for community EV charging opportunities.”

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