Snowplows stall full EV adoption in Ann Arbor fleet

The city of Ann Arbor owns or leases more electric vehicles than any other Michigan city, according to a Michigan Capitol Confidential analysis.

The city has 76 electric vehicles and about 235 vehicles fueled by either gasoline or diesel, according to a document obtained through a records request.

The city wants to transition every viable vehicle to electric, Missy Stults, Ann Arbor’s director of sustainability and innovations, told CapCon in a phone interview.

"Some things just aren't ready yet,” Stults said. For example, the city owns 29 Ford F-150 Lightning trucks that work well for the parks department. But they’re not suitable for the public works department, where pickup trucks double as snowplows.

“The chassis of the F-150 Lightning doesn’t fit a plow,” Stults said. "So we can take some of the trucks and transition them to electric, but until a truck that has a base that can fit a snowplow comes out, we can’t transition all of them."

The city’s total fleet is at 30% electric, while its light-duty fleet is more than 40% electric, and the heavy-duty fleet is 6% electric.

The city has ordered several electric trash trucks, but it’s hard to electrify some heavy equipment, Stults said.

Ann Arbor will soon order a Chevrolet Blazer for its first EV police pursuit vehicle. A pursuit vehicle must accelerate from 0 – 60 mph in nine seconds, 0 – 80 mph in 14.9 seconds, and 0 – 100 mph in 24.6 seconds. The vehicle must reach 110 mph in 0.92 miles and 120 mph in 1.70 miles

Pursuit vehicles must pass tests conducted by either the Michigan State Police or the Los Angeles Police Department, Stults said. They are modified to accelerate faster, stop faster and handle better than vehicles in general use.

"They test all the vehicles that police departments across the country use,” Stults said. “That's a different use case than you or I out driving, or even ticketing.”

Ann Arbor will test the EV Blazer for one year. If it goes well, the city might transition more pursuit vehicles to EVs. The Blazer can reach 130 mph in just over 19 seconds, according to the 2024 State Police Evaluation Test that CapCon obtained through a records request.

The city has a green fleet policy. Employees and departments that want to replace a vehicle must first justify a new vehicle. If so, they must ask if they can get one that’s zero-emissions, Stults said.

“So whenever anyone comes for a vehicle replacement, they have to not only justify the vehicle, because the first thing isn’t ‘electrify.’ It’s, ‘Do we need it?’’

If the vehicle isn't available on the market as an EV or doesn’t meet the requirements, the city will use whatever meets its operational needs, Stults said.

There are around 318 charging stations in Ann Arbor, which covers about 30 square miles. The number of charging stations does not include equipment installed inside homes.

“I believe we have the highest EV adoption rate in the state of Michigan,” Stults said. “I think we're coming up to 5% of vehicles on the road that are registered EVs.”

Stults credits the adoption rate to the culture of Ann Arbor, where residents tend to be early adopters of new technologies. Google co-founder Larry Page graduated from University of Michigan in 1995.

Ann Arbor recently won a grant for hard-to-solve charging environments, such as multifamily complexes, apartment rentals, and other places where landlords might not install charging stations, Stults said.

“Ann Arborites traditionally associate pretty heavily with environmental protection and quality of life,” she added.

Of the 235 gas or diesel vehicles the city owns, 145 are Ford vehicles. Ann Arbor owns 38 Chevrolets; 13 GMC vehicles; eight John Deere vehicles; six BMW motorcycles; five Chryslers; and four Dodge vehicles, according to a separate records request. The remaining vehicles are rescue boats, bucket trucks, tractors, street sweepers, ATVs and mobile command centers.

The city tracks the progress of its climate policy on an internet dashboard. The city hopes to reach carbon neutrality by 2030.