Location: Lynchburg, VA
Fleet Type: Municipal Fleet
Narrative
Longtime coalition stakeholder, the City of Lynchburg, has always sought out green fleet solutions thanks in large part to Director of Fleet Services Charles “Chuck” Cramer’s efforts. Cramer has worked with Virginia Clean Cities for several years and participated in many of the offered programs. He was looking to procure electric vehicles for the City’s fleet but needed a bit of leverage to convince his superiors that charging wouldn’t be an issue.
Outputs & Outcomes
Through a state funding source, VCC was able to provide Cramer’s department with three non-networked Level 2 chargers. Shortly after this deployment, Cramer worked with a local Chevrolet dealer to procure seven Bolt EUVs, all in fleet white. The cars feature the City’s logo with a green plug coming out of it.
The local television news station WSET did an excellent news story at the fleet’s depot unveiling all seven EVs to the public.
Cramer and VCC’s Deputy Director Matthew Wade recently partnered up to discuss the success story at the 2023 American Public Works Association Mid-Atlantic Chapter annual conference.
Best Practices & Lessons Learned
- Lower the barriers to adoption by helping fleets acquire low cost charging equipment. This will remove the major impediment to adopting EVS (“where do we charge?”
- Set expectations with elected officials. Those who are gung-ho to fully electrify need to be educated on the costs and long timelines it requires to procure vehicles, install chargers, train mechanics, and change the company’s “car culture”.
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