Fleet Services moves forward with fuel efficiency, reducing emissions

Although mileage put on city vehicles has continued to grow over the last five years, Austin has been able to reduce the amount of fuel used during that same time period, according to a report Wednesday to the City Council Audit and Finance Committee.

Fleet Mobility Services Assistant Director Rick Harland explained a variety of statistics, including how many miles the fleet’s 7,374 vehicles traveled in 2023 compared to earlier years as well as the amount of fuel used.

Harland said while the mileage has increased over the past five years – from 44.7 million miles in 2019 to 45.3 million miles traveled in 2023 – the amount of fuel has decreased due to efforts by the department to ramp up use of electric and fuel-efficient vehicles. He noted that the city uses not only standard gasoline but also biodiesel, E85, compressed natural gas and LNG, or liquified natural gas. The city’s many vehicles are involved in about 1,000 fueling transactions per day, he said.

“We buy about 700 vehicles per year,” Harland noted, with those vehicles valued at more than $606 million. Fleet vehicles travel about 45 million miles a year, a number he said many people find surprising. “We don’t stop. We go 24 hours a day,” he added. That number covers all fleet vehicles, including for Austin Resource Recovery, Austin Energy, Austin Water and Emergency Medical Services, as well as the Austin Police Department, Parks and Recreation and a variety of others.

The Fleet Mobility Services Department is responsible for every aspect of the city’s vehicles, starting with purchase, usage and maintenance, fueling and, finally, disposal. Harland said his agency ensures seamless vehicle upkeep and embraces innovative technologies. That includes use of GeoTab telematics devices, which give the departments real-time tracking and transmission of information about each of the city’s vehicles, he said.

One innovation the fleet department is working on is providing more electric vehicles to different departments. That could be a challenge in certain departments, such as trash collection trucks.

“We will exceed the original 10-year savings estimate of $3.5 million 12-18 months” ahead of schedule, Harland told the committee. In addition, he said his department has built 174 charging ports through a collaborative effort with Austin Energy and Public Works. That enabled the city’s fleet to save 7,400 metric tons of carbon output in 2023.

Council Member Alison Alter, who chairs the committee, noted that the city has reached its goal in reducing carbon output by city vehicles. She wanted to know if it was time to set a new goal.

Harland said, “We expect a 300 percent growth in our battery inventory by 2030” and noted that the Fleet department and the Austin Police Department had been working with Council Member Ryan Alter on a pilot program to evaluate the new Chevy police pursuit vehicle, which Car and Driver praised for its speed, calling it “an all-wheel-drive crime-fighting machine with 498 horsepower.”

Both Alison Alter and Ryan Alter expressed interest in hearing more about the variety of possible battery-powered vehicles the city might use in the future to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. Ryan Alter said the city had adopted a goal of cutting such emissions by 40 percent by everyone in the city. He said Austin cannot expect its residents to live up to that goal unless the city is also doing so. Harland promised to return to the committee with more electric vehicle plans in the near future.

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