BOARD MEETING DATE: June 5, 2009
AGENDA NO. 8

PROPOSAL:

Execute Contract to Cosponsor Battery Electric Class 4 Truck Demonstration Project

SYNOPSIS:

To address the goal for reducing NOx and PM emissions, the City of Santa Monica has proposed to demonstrate a Class 4 battery electric truck project. The vehicle will be used by the Water Resources Division of the Public Works Department for maintenance, repairs and customer service throughout the city. The project will examine the durability, reliability and lifecycle costs of the vehicle, battery and charging infrastructure in order to determine the prospects of future deployment of this zero-emissions technology. The total cost of the project is $210,910. This action is to execute a contract with the City of Santa Monica to cosponsor this project at a cost not to exceed $87,205 from the Clean Fuels Fund.

COMMITTEE:

Technology, May 22, 2009, Recommended for Approval

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Authorize the Chairman to execute a contract with the City of Santa Monica to demonstrate a battery powered electric truck project in an amount not to exceed $87,205 from the Clean Fuels Fund.
 

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

Medium-duty on-road vehicles contribute significantly towards NOx and PM emissions in the South Coast Air Basin. Significant emission reductions will be required from mobile sources, especially from the medium-duty sector, to attain the federal clean air standards.

Criteria pollutant, air toxic, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions depend on the commercial availability of alternative fuel vehicles such as electrically propelled trucks. A successful demonstration of a zero emissions medium-duty electric truck project will address some of these issues.
 

Proposal

The City of Santa Monica (the City) is requesting support from AQMD for the deployment and demonstration of one zero emission electric medium-duty truck with an advanced lithium ion battery pack. This vehicle will be used by the Water Resources Division of the Public Works Department for maintenance, repairs, and customer service visits throughout the city. The City does not currently operate any medium-duty electric vehicles within its Public Works department and thus seeks to deploy an electric vehicle instead of a typical diesel-fueled vehicle. This demonstration project will consist of one ZeroTruck vehicle manufactured by Electrorides, Inc.

This project will allow the City to evaluate the potential of replacing an additional ten medium-duty trucks with electric vehicles in the Public Works Department, as well as other divisions of the City fleet services. With modifications, the ZeroTruck could eventually replace as many as thirty medium-duty vehicles in this fleet. The City wishes to pursue this project in an effort to make further progress towards meeting the goals of switching municipal fleets to zero-emission technologies.

The purpose of this project is to examine both the utility and the cost effectiveness of zero-emission electric technologies in municipal fleet operations. This project will examine the lifecycle cost of the vehicle and charging infrastructure before making a recommendation for additional deployments within the City. The ZeroTruck is targeted at the medium-duty diesel truck sector and offers the fleet user a zero-emission vehicle with performance and operations comparable to a conventional medium-duty vehicle. Based on the Isuzu “N” series platform, the truck features include a lithium polymer battery, high efficiency 100 kW electric motor, automatic transmission, 65 to 75 mile range with speeds up to 50 mph, an on-board charger and a regenerative braking system.

The City and its partners will provide the vehicle, technical and service support and program management to the project.  Specifically, Electrorides which produces the vehicle will supply the labor for the data collection and reporting to the project’s partners. EV Innovations will provide support for the battery, a data logger for the battery, data transmission, technical service and reporting.  Vehicle Velocity Group will contribute the vehicle service, maintenance and warranty reporting for the twelve months of the demonstration program.  The City will be responsible for the program management of the project.
 

Benefits to AQMD

The proposed project is included in the Technology Advancement Office 2009 Plan Update under “Electric/Hybrid Technologies.” The AQMP relies upon accelerated implementation of advanced technologies within the South Coast Air Basin (SCAB) to achieve federal and state ambient air quality standards and for further air toxics reductions. The 2007 AQMP identifies zero- and near zero-emitting technologies as a key attainment strategy. This project would demonstrate the viability of zero-emission propulsion in a medium duty truck and expedite the commercialization of this technology.

The AQMD will utilize the data collected from the project to develop future projects. Future partners and municipal fleet managers will be able to examine the benefits and costs as well as lessons learned to further the development of a viable electric truck fleet. The purchasing decisions of many fleets in the SCAB are based on data gathered from demonstration projects.
 

Sole Source Justification

Section VIII.B.2 of the Procurement Policy and Procedure identifies four major provisions under which a sole source award may be justified. This request for a sole source award is made under provision B.2.d.: (1) Project involving cost sharing by multiple sponsors.

Project funding will be supplied by the AQMD, the City, Electrorides, EV Innovations and Velocity Vehicle Group for the design, manufacturing, operation, data collection and analysis required for this demonstration project.
 

Resource Impacts

The total cost for the proposed project is approximately $210,910. The AQMD’s contribution from the Clean Fuels Fund shall not exceed $87,205, which represents 41% of the total budget. The total estimated cost-share for this proposed project is $123,705 from City of Santa Monica, Electrorides, EV Innovations and Velocity Vehicle Group. The proposed cost-share by the sponsors is listed in the following table:

Sufficient funds are available in the Clean Fuels Fund, which is established as special revenue from the state-mandated Clean Fuels Program. The Clean Fuels Program, under Health and Safety Code Sections 40448.5 and 40512 and Vehicle Code Section 9250.11, establishes mechanisms to collect revenues from mobile sources to support projects to increase the utilization of clean fuels, including the development of the necessary advanced enabling technologies. Funds collected from motor vehicles are restricted, by statute, to be used for projects and program activities related to mobile sources that support the objectives of the Clean Fuels Program.