The nation’s top-rated electric vehicle (EV) fleets have been recognized by Fast Fleet, a new clean transportation awards program presented by CSE that acknowledges commercial and public fleet operators that reduce pollution emissions and curb fossil fuel use by achieving superior electric vehicle utilization.
The Fast Fleet top ten award-winning EV fleet operators for 2017 are East Orange County Water District, Monterey-Salinas Transit, California Lottery, Three Valleys Water District, County of Monterey, City of Hollister, Ventura County Fleet Services, City of Gloucester (Mass.), City of Placentia and City of San Jose. For a complete listing of award winners and honorable mentions, visit the Fast Fleet Awards website.
The top fleet in the ranking, East Orange County Water District (EOCWD), credits their high EV utilization to the availability of public and private EV charging stations and educating staff about the importance of EVs to achieve emission reductions and cost savings.
“Our staff feel a sense of accomplishment, both from an environmental and financial standpoint, when optimizing EV miles,” said Lisa Ohlund, EOCWD general manager. “Operationally, we maximize our EV miles by planning meetings at locations that have charging stations.”
Top-ranked fleets performed above their peers by providing ample vehicle charging infrastructure, proper driver training and consistent management oversight. Fleets that underperformed against their peers typically did not have charging in place when new electric vehicles arrived or an adequate number of chargers available.
Based on EV fleet performance
What distinguishes CSE’s Fast Fleet Award is that it bases success on EV fleet performance, not simply the total numbers of vehicles purchased or the percentage of a fleet that has been replaced by cleaner vehicles. Fast Fleet is based on vehicle utilization measured by average EV miles traveled.
“While purchasing electric vehicles is an important first step, this ranking raises awareness that utilization is an equally important measure of success and encourages better benchmarking,” said Michael Terreri, CSE’s Fleet and Facility Services manager. “CSE congratulates the winning organizations and their drivers, technicians and fleet managers for leadership and forward-thinking approaches to deploying EV technology.”
Rick Sapienza, director of North Carolina State University’s Clean Transportation Program agrees, “We’ve seen repeatedly that successful fleets are the ones that match procurement of electric vehicles with change management processes involving all parts of the organization. EV technology is capable and suits many applications, however, success hinges on organizational culture and human behavioral change."
The National Conference of State Legislatures reports 28 states have hybrid or electric vehicle fleet requirements, acquisition goals or a preference for the state’s agencies to purchase cleaner vehicles.
Find out more information
Fleet operators and managers nationwide are encouraged to apply for the Fast Fleet Awards online. For information on CSE’s clean fleet and facilities advising and technical services, visit Fleet and Facility Services.