South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

County plans to convert portion of vehicle fleet to electric by 2027

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A St. Louis County electric vehicle

St. Louis County Executive Sam Page announced last week plans to modernize more than one-fourth of the county’s light-duty vehicle fleet to electric vehicles by 2027.

He unveiled the plan Nov. 30 during a press conference in Maryland Heights, placing into service the county’s first electric fleet vehicle, a U.S. Ford F-150 Lightning.

“It’s clear the vehicle producing is moving to electric and St. Louis County government is preparing to do our part by electrifying our vehicle fleet and reducing the county’s carbon footprint,” Page said.

The plan calls to convert 27% of the county’s light-duty vehicle fleet to electric by 2027. The county operates a fleet of nearly 1,400 vehicles, of which 1,051 are light-duty vehicles such as vans, sedans, pickup trucks and crossovers. The typical lifecycle for a non-police county vehicle is 12 years or 160,000 miles.

The new F-150 Lightning cost $47,065 to purchase — according to a press release from the county, it cost about $79,000 to purchase, operate and maintain a gas-powered F-150.

“Research shows that electric vehicles are 40 percent less expensive to maintain than internal combustion engine vehicles,” county Director of Sustainability Mandy La Brier stated in the press release.

The Department of Transportation and Public Works will identify which vehicles are eligible for replacement and if it will be replaced with either a battery electric vehicle, plug-in hybrid or hybrid electric.

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