Location: Bangor, Maine
Fleet type: Light- and heavy-duty (municipal, transit)
Narrative
The City of Bangor, located in Penobscot County, is committed to addressing climate concerns and environmental vulnerabilities for all 32,520 residents. In 2021, the City adopted the Climate Action Plan Resolve recognizing a climate emergency and committing to a municipal climate action planning process aligned with the State of Maine’s climate strategy, Maine Won’t Wait. As part of this effort, Penobscot Climate Action, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing local climate solutions and supporting communities across the Penobscot region in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building climate resilience, led a project to assess Bangor’s 
climate vulnerabilities and develop 10 toolkits outlining strategies to address identified risks and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The most recent progress update was released in 2024.
Bangor has also made progress in electrifying its municipal fleet, incorporating three electric vehicle (EV) models– Ford F-150 Lightnings, Hyundai Konas, and Hyundai Ioniq 6s – to meet different operational needs. The Police Department and Parks & Recreation use the Konas, while the Electrical Department utilizes the Ford Lightnings. The Ioniq 6s are used by all departments with a rental system. The City operates nine electric vehicles in total, including the Community Connector fleet, and a Utility Terrain Vehicle.
In 2025, Parks & Recreation added a Polaris Ranger EV to its fleet. This all-electric off-road utility vehicle can be conveniently charged using a standard 120-volt wall outlet.
To further support EV adoption, the City has installed five dual-port EV charging stations throughout Bangor with support from the Community Action Grant Program, an Efficiency Maine initiative that helps municipalities and organizations implement clean energy projects. The City also operates 35 hybrid vehicles with uses ranging from police patrols to ADA vans.
Bangor Fleet Director Mike Morin with Ford F-150 Lightning (Source: Greater Portland Council of Governments)
The Community Connector, Bangor’s municipally owned and operated public transit system, has also begun transitioning toward electrification. In fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the Community Connector acquired two battery-electric Nissan Leaf vehicles as fleet service vehicles. They have also purchased two Ford E-Transit ADA vans. In addition, the City commissioned HATCH Consulting to develop a Bus Electrification Plan for the Community Connector, outlining a feasible pathway toward full fleet electrification. The plan recommends replacing the current fleet of 22 diesel-powered buses with a combination of 14 battery-electric buses and 8 hybrid-electric buses. To advance these efforts, the City of Bangor has partnered with the Maine Department of Transportation to support their request for funding through the Federal Transit Administration’s Low or No Emission Grant Program for future EV acquisition. Furthermore, the Community Connector has an FTA grant to remodel, electrify and add a training center in the bus barn. These improvements will make the transition to electric buses easier for the City and surrounding communities.
Outputs & Outcomes
For the Community Connector, the proposed fleet changes program estimates that the fleet changeover would reduce fleet-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 60%. Other EV actions have been producing similar order of magnitude GHG reductions. And that is accompanied by a significant reduction in noise pollution. Internal combustion engine vehicles generate significant noise from their engines and exhaust systems, while EVs use an electric drivetrain that allows for near-silent operation — a meaningful advantage during the Public Works department’s daily activities in and around the city.
Best Practices & Lessons Learned
Bangor’s Ioniq 6 EV (Source: Greater Portland Council of Governments)
Bangor has diversified EV models to match department-specific use cases rather than one-size-fits-all. The three different EV models – Ford F-150 Lightning, Hyundai Kona, and Hyundai Ioniq 6 – are matched to specific departmental needs, rather than forcing a single vehicle type across dissimilar jobs. The City also uses shared/pooled vehicles to maximize utilization of a limited EV fleet. The Ioniq 6 is available to all departments through a rental system, which is a low-cost way to extend EV access without buying one per department. Hybrids are used as a bridge strategy across a range of functions, treating hybrids as a practical intermediate step for use cases (like ADA transport or patrol) where full electrification may not yet be operationally ready. Furthermore, the City of Bangor has anchored municipal action in a broader regional climate framework. The 2021 Climate Action Plan Resolve ties into Penobscot Climate Action’s regional vulnerability assessment and toolkits, giving fleet electrification a documented rationale and regional support network.
On the transit side, the City commissioned a formal, vendor-produced electrification plan before committing capital to transit fleet conversion. HATCH Consulting developed a dedicated Bus Electrification Plan for the Community Connector, which modeled a specific replacement mix (14 battery-electric + 8 hybrid-electric buses to replace 22 diesel buses) rather than converting the transit fleet on an ad hoc basis. Additionally, by securing an FTA grant to remodel and electrify the bus barn and add a training center, the Community Connector program recognizes that depot charging infrastructure and staff training are as critical to a successful transition as the buses themselves.
On the lessons learned side, transit electrification can deliver outsized emissions benefits relative to passenger fleet electrification. The proposed Community Connector bus fleet is projected to cut emissions by 60%, illustrating that transit and heavy-vehicle electrification can outweigh the impact of electrifying passenger cars and light trucks alone. Municipal and transit-agency electrification often move on different timelines and require different funding mechanisms. Bangor’s municipal fleet already has nine EVs on the road, while the Community Connector’s 22-bus diesel fleet is still in the planning/funding stage, reminding us that passenger fleet and transit fleet electrification are separate efforts with different cost structures, grant programs, and timelines, even within the same city. Additionally, small-scale, low-infrastructure EV pilots (like the Polaris Ranger EV) can be a low-risk way to keep expanding electrification even while larger, capital-intensive efforts like bus fleet conversion are still in the planning and funding stage.
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