At the Sedona City Council Priority Retreat on January 18 and 19, City Council members and staff encouraged the use of electric vehicles, particularly through the provision of chargers, and by replacing the city’s vehicles with electric models. We renewed our commitment to pursue a green energy policy.

Alicia Peck, the city’s recently resigned Sustainability Coordinator, said the city has partnered with APS Utilities to source all energy for city operations from renewable sources, the second in the program after Flagstaff. I announced that I became a participant.

Peck also noted that the city is considering proposals to decarbonize municipal buildings, that staff have opted for new software to help with greenhouse gas calculations, and that “our home energy retrofit projects are still alive and well. ‘ said. Waiting list for it. Next year, “Let’s incorporate even a little” [sustainability] Incorporate standards into our procurement practices. ”

Peck drew attention to the fact that the city’s climate action plan, like the city’s sustainability plan, is due to be updated this year. “I don’t think many people know that we are doing this,” she said.

greening the fleet

However, the primary focus of the council’s green energy debate was the electrification of the city’s vehicles and how to encourage residents to adopt electric vehicles.

“The message we’ve heard from the Council is that, as a governing body, we are committed to moving towards electrifying our fleet in the most ambitious way possible and getting different propulsion systems over time. That’s it,” summed up City Manager Karen Osburn.

The city’s current fleet consists of approximately 80 vehicles, excluding service vehicles. Non-electric vehicles in the fleet will be replaced with electric vehicles during the rotation period.

“Sometimes you have to move the market, you have to create a need,” said Alderman Kathy Kinsella, saying the move to an electric fleet will make the city a market engine and set an example for others. He insisted that he would show

The city is pursuing this goal and recently ordered six e-bikes. “To reduce vehicle use by creating a fleet of bicycles for city employees to use between buildings, meetings, etc.,” Peck explained. “We expect it to be delivered between February and March of this year.”

The city also plans to electrify transportation.

“The future public transit maintenance center will be located next to the wastewater treatment plant,” said Robert Weber, the city’s public transit manager. He said the city staff aims to “ensure that facilities are designed, engineered, planned in advance, and ready for battery electricity, charging stations, etc. By leveraging the power generation facilities, there is the potential to take advantage of the so-called microgrids.As we understand the facilities are underutilized.It is owned by a private company…I We want to find a way to support this facility and tie it together to support future transportation operations for battery electric vehicles.”

Sustainability officials are now working to create an EV charging infrastructure plan for the city and public to further this cause. Peck explained that he could be either a three-year or five-year plan.

“For the time being, we want to have a goal of working towards an optimal number of EV chargers,” she said.

“If you convert to EVs, you need to install EV chargers for your fleet,” continues Peck. “You have to decide where to put these chargers. Once they are installed, there is little chance that you can remove them.”

Regarding the possibility of installing fleet chargers at City Hall, she noted that the location of the chargers would need to be selected.

The city has previously installed public charging stations at the Jordan Road Uptown parking lot and Posse Grounds Park, and is working to add another charging station at Sunset Park. All of these have been installed for free through our partnership with APS. Chargers were also planned for an uptown parking lot, but with the garage project on hold, the city wonders if they should be installed elsewhere or simply postponed. It is unknown if there are any.

transport physics

How much emission reduction will electric vehicles achieve?

Vehicle life cycle emissions calculations are highly variable, Analysis by Carbon Brief Nissan LEAF found an expected 65 grams of CO2 emissions per kilometer driven due to the fuel cycle and 27 g/km of CO2 emissions due to battery manufacturing. In comparison, the Toyota Prius Eco has 28 g/km and 3 g/km respectively.

Both vehicles are estimated to add 38 g/km of emissions attributable to the manufacturing process of the vehicle’s non-battery components, totaling 130 g/km and 168 g/km respectively. Total emissions for the Tesla 3 were expected to be 127 g/km, while the average non-electric vehicle considered in the analysis had an estimated lifecycle emissions of 258 g/km.

Emission reductions for electric vehicles are therefore between 23% and 50%, depending on the basis of comparison. These diagrams Published by MIT and the US Department of Energy.

Saving emissions is not the same as saving energy. The energy required to move a vehicle of a given mass for a given distance is the same regardless of the vehicle’s energy source. As the Carbon Brief data show, the electric vehicle’s fuel cycle emissions costs are more than double those of fossil-fueled vehicles due to conversion and other inefficiencies.

Conversely, vehicles with significantly reduced mass will consume less energy, resulting in lower emissions regardless of fuel source.

Most of the energy used to power a car is used to power the vehicle, not the occupants. Assuming an average passenger weight of 150 pounds, a 3,500-pound car like the Tesla 3, when carrying one passenger, has a vehicle-to-passenger weight ratio of about 23:1. 96% of the energy consumed when a car is in motion is not used to move passengers or perform useful work.

For comparison, the Sedona Trailhead shuttle at 50% capacity has a V/P ratio of 9.7:1.

Approximate V/P ratios for other transportation technologies are:

• Oasis-class cruise ship, full load: 171:1
• Amtrak Superliner, 60% Capacity: 22.7:1
• Lightweight Tata Nano car, 1 seater: 9:1
• Kurama: 7:1
• Cessna 172R, two-seater: 5.6:1
• Boeing 737-800, full load: 3:1
• Ultralight Aircraft: 1.7:1
• Vespa LX Scooter: 1.6:1
• Jetson One Single Seater Quadcopter: 1.3:1
• Cableway, 8 miles long, 1/2 inch cable, 100 passengers: 1.18:1
• Cycle rickshaw, 1 passenger: ~0.67:1
• Electric bike: 0.2-0.5:1
• E-scooter: 0.17-0.33:1
• Conventional road bike: 0.13:1

These figures compare favorably with replacing fossil fuel vehicles with electric vehicles, either by reducing average vehicle weight by a factor of 4 to 2, or by replacing vehicles with other modes of transport with lower V/P ratios. It suggests that we can reduce energy consumption and reduce emissions by the same or more. .

Also note that the emissions figures above do not take into account the emissions produced by the construction and maintenance of the highway system required for these vehicles. Horses, rickshaws, and rickshaws are also carbon-neutral transport systems, regardless of their V/P ratio.

The City of Sedona’s Sustainability Plan, Climate Action Plan, and Community Plan include adding bicycles, scooters, light vehicles, rickshaws, quadcopters, or cableways, adding bike paths, and increasing emissions in the process. aside.