The county partnered with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to commission consultants who will study the area's existing electric vehicle infrastructure and provide recommendations on making the switch, said county sustainability director Shannon Moore.
Moreover, Moore said, the study will look at the money the county could save and the greenhouse gas emissions it could eliminate by buying or leasing electric vehicles rather than gas-powered ones.
The county already operates nine electric buses, Moore said. Seventeen of the county's 1,208 fleet vehicles are hybrids, said Jeremy Endlich, the county's director of fleet services.
Right now, the sedans and small SUVs in the county's fleet are the best candidates for trade-ins, Endlich said. There are already plenty of those models on the market, but it will take much longer for the county to switch over its heavy-duty equipment.
"Some of the work that the county is involved in requires bigger vehicles — pickup trucks, dump trucks, off-road equipment," Endlich said. "The technology isn't quite there yet to feasibly replace these vehicles with full electric."
Pickup trucks are a highly anticipated addition to the electric vehicle market. The county has pre-ordered a Lordstown Endurance electric truck and an electric SUV manufactured by Bollinger Motors, Endlich said, which he hopes will be built late this year or early in 2022.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden visited a Ford facility in Michigan to test-drive its new fully electric F-150. The automaker had planned to officially unveil the truck Wednesday.
The county's study will also zero in on adding electric vehicle infrastructure in southern Frederick along the Md. 85 and 355 corridors, Moore said, and examine local ordinances that may "disincentivize" drivers looking to switch to electric.
Jeff King, director of climate, energy and air programs at the council of governments, said he's coordinated a study in Prince George's County similar to the one he's helping launch in Frederick.
It's all part of the council's "ambitious" goal to cut emissions in half by 2030, he added.
"We're hoping to see a ramp-up of activity around planning electrification of fleets," King said.
© 2021 The Frederick News-Post (Frederick, Md.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
