The town of Sackville is getting in the electric vehicle game.
At its meeting on Monday April 11, Sackville town council will vote on a proposal to replace its bylaw enforcement vehicle, currently a 10-year-old Ford hybrid, with a fully electric car.
The move to go electric comes after a recommendation from the Mayor’s Roundtable on Climate Change in their review of Sackville’s 2022 capital budget.
Climate Change coordinator Kirsty Mrazek told council on Monday night that staff compared three different electric models in terms of price, and the Chevy Bolt EUV came in cheapest, at just under $39,000, including taxes and $10,000 in rebates from the provincial and federal governments.
The report did not include costs over the life of the vehicles, but according to CAA’s driving cost calculator, the fuel cost for the new EV will be considerably cheaper than its hybrid predecessor. For a generous 30,000 kms per year, the Chevy Bolt EUV costs about $660 in electricity, at current rates. A Ford Escape Hybrid going the same distance would rack up about $3000 in gas charges at today’s prices, according to the CAA online tool.
While staff are recommending an EV to replace the bylaw enforcement vehicle, they are not doing so for another vehicle replacement.
A twelve-year-old Ford 150 truck from the Parks and Facilities department is due for replacement, and staff are recommending a hybrid to replace it, instead of a fully electric truck.
“We really would love to have got an electric truck in here,” outgoing town engineer Dwayne Acton told council, “but right now the market is just not there.” Acton said the availability of electric trucks is uncertain, with long wait times for delivery.
Councillor Sabine Dietz asked whether it would be possible to delay the truck replacement for a year or two until electric models were readily available, but Acton said that skipping years in fleet management could create problems down the line.
“The technology is definitely going that way,” Acton told council. “It’s just we’re not right there yet. And we’re suggesting that for this particular one, we go hybrid. And then next year, maybe Ford or some of the others will step up and have something available for the next half ton truck that needs to be purchased.”
But the town may need to get their orders in soon if they hope to make their next replacement truck an EV. According to one area Ford dealer, the order bank for the 2022 edition of the Ford F150 Lightning is full, and they already have a list of about ten customers awaiting the opening of orders for the 2023 model.
