EV purchases a ‘small step’ in city’s climate plan

The City of Brandon hopes to have four new electric vehicles on the road later this year.

A request for proposals was sent out last month to replace three aging sedans and an SUV, which are all about 13 years old. The city’s RFP requests four SUVs or three SUVs and a truck.

“I would hope we would have the vehicles in 2026, but sometimes things take a little bit longer to acquire than we hope,” acting general manager of development services Ryan Nickel said.

The replacements will be the first EVs in the city’s fleet. The acquisition is part of a larger climate plan for the city that includes lowering its emissions, Nickel said.

“I think city council saw this as a potential to make some incremental process towards some of our climate goals, which I think have been a little bit challenging at times, just because there’s so many different competing (issues) facing the city,” he said.

“So, strategically it is in alignment for us to start to make some incremental change to our fleet.”

Results on the city’s website show that two Brandon dealerships — Murray Chevrolet and Fowler Hyundai — put in bids to supply the city with the four vehicles.

Murray Chevrolet’s unevaluated bid is listed at $162,120 while Fowler Hyundai’s bid is listed as “NA.”

City spokesperson Merrilea Metcalf said the “NA” listed on the bidding results is caused by “ambiguity in the information received” and a price could not be listed.

Bidding closed on May 12.

Nickel said the selection process should be completed in the next month and is always carried out to “ensure fairness and consistency.”

The open process also ensures good value for taxpayers, he said.

Nickel said the vehicles will be used solely inside the city and primarily by building inspectors.

“The hope is to maximize use of these electric vehicles, so not just for maybe staff of our department, but other city departments looking to use light-duty vehicles,” he said. “Because, as we know, with the price of fuel, any savings we can get for the taxpayer is beneficial.”

No cost estimate was available for how much money the city could save on fuel.

The charging stations, which were installed about a month ago, are at the A.R. McDiarmid Civic Centre in the city’s downtown. The four charging ports have an access pad that would only allow city staff to use them.

In the future, the city plans to monitor how the EVs are being utilized to determine if it should expand the program with more vehicles. The city would be able to buy more vehicles without setting up more charging stations and use the ports on a rotating basis.

The current charging station has enough power to be expanded for another four ports, Nickel said.

Mayor Jeff Fawcett said the vehicle replacement is a “small step” in the city’s climate change strategy, but that it is important.

He said the purchase benefits everyone, as fuel prices have skyrocketed since the start of the year.

“It’s just a step in the right direction, but also, the reality is it will generally cost us less going forward with these,” Fawcett said.

Other municipalities in Canada have had city-operated electric vehicles for years, he said, adding that Brandon is “probably a little late.”

“It might be perceived as a very big step for some people, but the reality is it’s not a very big step,” Fawcett said.

The RFP says the vehicles must be able to operate from -50 C to 40 C and “in all types of weather conditions.”

Nickel said the cold Manitoba winter isn’t a concern with the electric vehicles. The reason the light-duty vehicles for building inspectors are being replaced is because they don’t need to go a substantial distance before they need to be recharged, he said.

“From a charging perspective, I think although maybe the range might be decreased in colder conditions, they’ll be able to be charged up in the evening, so they’ll be able to kind of go again the next day,” Nickel said.

Three of the vehicles being replaced are 2013 Kia Optima Hybrids and one is a 2014 Jeep Compass, the RFP shows.

Nickel said the city’s fleet policy is for a vehicle to have a typical life cycle of 10 years for light-duty vehicles, and that it makes business sense to replace those specific vehicles after they’ve outlived the guidelines.

Fawcett said hopefully the EVs can be on the road for at least 10 years or longer, as there is less maintenance on vehicles that stay in the city.

“The expectation would be to try to keep them on the road longer,” he said.

» alambert@brandonsun.com