Valley Metro tested battery electric buses in Tempe in summer 2020.|| Courtesy Valley Metro
Russ Wiles
Arizona Republic
Arizona’s state and local governmental entities are expected to retire nearly 20,000 cars and light trucks from their fleets over the next decade. Why not make some of them electric?
That’s essentially the argument of a new report, called Electric Vehicles Save Money for Government Fleets. Arizona cities, towns, counties and the state government could save $283 million, mainly in reduced fuel and maintenance expenses, if they collectively transitioned their light-duty fleets to electric when they retire older cars and trucks, according to the study.
Combined government fleets in Arizona total around 90,000 cars and trucks, excluding motorcycles and certain other vehicles.
State and local governments across the United States could save taxpayers much more, nearly $11 billion, in lifetime expenses by doing the same — purchasing electric vehicles to replace gasoline and diesel vehicles in their fleets.
The new study released Tuesday and an earlier report, both by the Arizona PIRG Education Fund and sustainability researcher Frontier Group, estimate Arizona’s state government alone could save $26 million in lifetime vehicle-ownership costs by replacing just their cars and light-duty trucks with electric models. The 10 largest cities here could save nearly $80 million, while smaller cities and towns around Arizona, county governments and other public entities would share an estimated $177 million in savings.
That’s in addition to health and other benefits from decreased air pollution.
