City of Brantford announced the launch of its first fully electric departmental fleet of vehicles on Wednesday, October 13.
City of Brantford building inspectors began using seven new electric Hyundai Konas earlier this week.
“We are excited to make the switch to using corporate electric vehicles and show the City of Brantford’s commitment to greening our fleet,” said Andy McMahon, City of Brantford Chief Building Official and Director of Building Services. “Not only do the new vehicles reduce the City’s impact on climate change, it is expected to reduce fuel and maintenance costs by 75 per cent per vehicle.”
The adoption of the electric vehicles is in line with the City of Brantford’s Corporate Climate Change Action Plan and moves Brantford closer to reaching its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The seven electric vehicles will avoid 14.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (T of CO2e) a year and approximately 102 T of CO2e emissions over the lifetime of the operation of the vehicles. The annual avoidance of emissions is equivalent to planting 668 trees.
“This is a big step in the right direction towards our climate change targets,” said Rochelle Rumney, Climate Change Officer, City of Brantford. “It’s an opportunity to show the multiple benefits of an electric vehicle fleet and share those findings with our community.”
The new electric vehicles have been outfitted with decals to show they are 100% electric as well as the City of Brantford logo. While reducing greenhouse gas emissions and operating costs, EVs are also much better for the local air quality and are significantly quieter than vehicles with an internal combustion engine.
