Whitepaper – Identifying Electric Vehicles to Best Serve University Fleet Needs and Support Sustainability Goals
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provides technical and analytical support to the U.S. Department of Energy’s alternative fuel programs, including the State and Alternative Fuel Provider Fleet Program. Through the program, the U.S. Department of Energy implements regulations pursuant to the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct), as amended, which requires state and alternative fuel provider fleets to acquire alternative fuel vehicles and requires alternative fuel providers to use alternative fuels in those vehicles where the fuel is available. These fleets continue to be a subject of broad interest as a test bed for implementing and evaluating new vehicle and fuel technologies and are the subject of compliance options set forth in EPAct and associated regulations. The work in the alternative fuel arena that these fleets pursue inevitably generates case studies and lessons learned that other EPAct fleets—and indeed other fleets as well—can use to their advantage as they begin to deploy new and advanced vehicle technologies.
University fleets represent an enticing opportunity to explore the near-term feasibility of achieving net-zero-carbon emissions in transportation. In many instances, universities operate much like a small, self-contained ecosystem with all the same transportation needs as a larger municipality, but with a smaller geographic footprint. Their fleets often include a wide variety of vehicle types serving the campus, including low-speed vehicles (e.g., golf carts), light-duty sedans, SUVs, and pickups, as well as medium-duty trucks and delivery vehicles. The mix of vehicle and operational needs combined with broader activities related to net-zero campuses makes universities and colleges unique microcosms to determine the feasibility of and path to achieving net-zero fleets.
As the availability of electric drivetrains expands beyond light-duty sedans, fleets need to understand when it will be operationally and financially appropriate to start adding electric drivetrains to their fleets. To better understand these opportunities, NREL contracted Sawatch Labs to analyze the role electric vehicles (EVs) can have in helping universities meet net-zero emissions and fleet sustainability goals they have instituted. While many universities have established sustainability and net-zero goals, they have often not applied to fleet operations.1 In fact, the U.S. Department of Energy does not include transportation in the definition of a zeroenergy campus.2 This may be due to the limited availability of alternative fuel vehicles within university fleets and access to alternative fuel to support a net-zero fleet goal, as well as limited means to capture relevant data. With the oncoming availability of more EV models and telematics analysis such as the results presented in this report, universities will be more readily able to incorporate transportation energy use of their vehicles into their broader zero-energy campus initiatives.
This analysis includes the assessment of fleet data from six universities across different regions of the United States to:
Identify university vehicles for which an EV replacement is a good operational and economic fit.
Identify EV opportunities, as well as the applications and reasoning, for where EVs are identified as a good fit.
Identify EV challenges, as well as the applications and reasoning, for where EVs were not identified as a good fit.
Garnering each of these pieces of information is expected to facilitate efforts by universities to achieve a net-zero fleet.
To accurately understand fleet electrification opportunities and challenges, fleet partners provided the research team with telematics data for their vehicles. Telematics data, such as vehicle speed and location, enable a detailed understanding of vehicle travel patterns to determine both energy needs based on driving behaviors and charging opportunities based on parking habits. The analytical methodology outlined in the next section provided fleets with vehicle electrification opportunities and charging demand analyses to support net-zero fleet planning efforts. Each participating fleet was provided with access, via Sawatch Labs’ online dashboard, to the detailed analysis for its vehicles and parking facilities.
As university fleets move beyond initial EV procurement to meeting fleet electrification goals and broader university-wide net-zero goals, it will be critical for fleet managers to determine where EVs will be a good operational and economic fit and why others may not be a good fit. This report provides an overview of the analysis across the six university fleets and identifies lessons learned that can help other EPAct-covered state fleets and other fleets as they increase their fleet electrification.
To learn more and view complete results, download our whitepaper.
