Over the weekend, when power outages cut electricity to around 70,000 customers, Clark Public Utilities only needed a single mechanic out and about to keep the utility’s fleet of vehicles running, utility fleet manager Paul Chamberlain said.
That’s due, in part, to a yearslong effort by the utility to bring more sustainable practices to its vehicles, which has also meant greater reliability and efficiency for its 265-vehicle fleet.
“Those kind of things excite me as a fleet manager,” Chamberlain said.
The utility added two plug-in electric hybrid pickup trucks to its vehicle fleet recently, the latest additions as the utility tries to squeeze efficiencies from its busy fleet while limiting emissions.
Chamberlain explained the utility really started focusing on sustainability in the fleet, which totals about 1.5 million miles on the road annually, around 2006.
As the utility added new vehicles and modified others, trucks have grown more reliable and spend less time in the shop, he said.
“We try to practice good sustainable practices, because I think as a government and as an agency we should be saving money, saving fuel, reducing our dependency on foreign oil and being efficient,” Chamberlain said.
The newest trucks, from commercial fleet supplier XL, are plug-in electric hybrid Ford F-150s, and are meant to move crews and equipment to work sites, or go off-road as needed.
Of the 265 vehicles in the fleet, 175 are out on the county roadways. About 40 of those have idle management systems on their engines, more than 100 use a kind of cleaner diesel fuel, and about 30 vehicles carry hybrid or complete electric motors.
Part of the challenge with managing a greener vehicle fleet is making sure any efficiency doesn’t disrupt its work, which is why the fleet is so diverse.
Most of the utility’s all-electric or hybrids are for moving people around, and generally stay to the roads. In turn, they have a longer life cycle. The larger diesel vehicles were more of a challenge.
The utility found its vehicles typically spent around half their time on the road stuck in idle; it’s around 70 percent for larger vehicles, according to the utility.
An hour of idling in these large diesel trucks is equivalent to about 80 miles of engine wear, 25 to 30 miles of drive time and more than a gallon of fuel.
Furthermore, since idling engines run cooler, the fuel doesn’t combust as cleanly, leading to engine wear. Low-quality combustion prompts the diesel vehicles’ engines to start their filter regeneration cycle, to clean out the gunk.
As there’s no slowing down for the power company, the nature of the utility’s work means interrupted regeneration cycles, which plugs up the filters even more.
“Our cycle for capital purchases were very erratic,” Chamberlain said, as they’d have to start looking to replace trucks as soon as 100,000 miles.
Starting in 2014, the utility started adding idle cutoff systems to vehicles, which program the engines to shut off when not needed, without interrupting work crews’ needs.
They’ve also switched all their diesel vehicles to vehicles with engines running on what’s called renewable diesel. The fuel produces relatively less carbon emissions. It’s made from agricultural waste products, but, unlike biodiesel, is chemically similar to petroleum diesel. It’s also easier on engines.
Between the new fuel type and idle cutoffs, the utility added about 25,000 to 50,000 miles of life to each truck, Chamberlain said. The $1,500 idle cutoff systems, assuming a roughly 10-year vehicle life, pay themselves off in savings in about 1 1/2 to 2 years, he said.
The fleet’s fuel consumption has declined to about 165,000 gallons annually, Chamberlain said, down from around 200,000 gallons.
Overall, however, any savings for the utility’s capital budget through more efficient vehicles are largely gobbled up by the rising costs of vehicles in general. The real savings, Chamberlain said, have been in operations and maintenance.
A good chunk of the savings will likely come from simply being prepared, Chamberlain said, as local, state and federal mandates require lower vehicle emissions to combat climate change.
In 2008, the Legislature placed limits on Washington’s greenhouse gas emissions, with a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 25 percent below 1990s levels by 2035.
“If you’re not practicing more, moving toward it, or doing research and preparing for it, it’s going to cost you a lot of money,” Chamberlain said.
