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City Council Staff Report
September 17, 2008 NEW BUSINESS
Subject: ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLE PROCUREMENT POLICY
From: ❑avid H. Ready, City Manager
Initiated by: Public Works and Engineering Department
SUMMARY
Approval of this item will provide Alternative Fuel Policy Guidelines for the City's use in
purchasing new and replacement vehicles for the City's fleet.
RECOMMENDATION:
1) Approve the alternative fuel vehicle policy guideline for purchasing new and
replacement vehicles for the City's fleet.
STAFF ANALYSIS:
Over the past several months City staff has researched alternative fuel vehicle
availability with South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) staff and others in
relation to the wide spectrum of types of vehicles required by the City.
City staff recommends that the City Council approve the following Vehicle Acquisition
Policy:
The City will attempt to meet all of its vehicle needs through the competitive
procurement process, with vehicles which use, or can be properly equipped to
use, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
The City has many different end users of vehicles, from the general purpose
departments to the public safety Police and Fire Departments. Implementation of the
proposed Vehicle Acquisition Policy will require different implementation practices to
meet different needs. For all CNG vehicles that may be available and can be acquired,
the vehicles will be acquired through the Cal Start Natural Gas Vehicle Cooperative,
which is expected to be operating by the end of this year.
Item No. 5 • D •
City Council Staff Report
September 17, 2008
Alternative Fuel Vehicle Procurement Policy
Cal Start is a non-profit organization that works with the public and private sectors to
develop advanced transportation technologies and foster companies that will help clean
the air, lessen our dependence on foreign oil, reduce global warming, and create jobs.
Cal Start is partnering with other natural gas vehicle stakeholders to create the Natural
Gas Vehicle Cooperative Purchase Program (the Cooperative) to coordinate the high
volume purchase of light and medium duty CNG vehicles by public and private fleets. It
is proposed to conduct this program mostly within California, but including Arizona and
Nevada to increase potential demand, with the possibility of expanding it beyond these
states if this effort is successful. The Cooperative will assist in "greening" public and
private fleets with cleaner alternative fuel vehicles at affordable prices. It addition, the
Cooperative wants to aggregate the purchase of large enough numbers of vehicles to
provide an incentive to dealers and manufacturers to not only participate in the
Cooperative, but help them expand the market.
Cal Start expects that, through the Cooperative, many more vehicle makes and models
will be available in CNG, including: Honda Civic GX, Ford F-150 pickup, Ford E-350
van, Ford E-450 cutaway, Ford Crown Victoria, GM C4500 and C5500 Shuttle Bus,
GMC S10, GMC Sonoma, Chevrolet Silverado Pickup, and Isuzu NPR.
Policy Implementation:
For general purpose vehicles, City staff will pursue acquisition of CNG vehicles through
the Cooperative. In the event a Department requests acquisition of a vehicle (i.e.
certain SUV's or other larger vehicles) that is not available using CNG, the proposed
acquisition will be presented to the City Council for approval to acquire a non-CNG
vehicle. In such cases, gasoline or diesel powered vehicles may need to be purchased.
For Police Department vehicles, City staff will coordinate with the Police Chief to
implement a pilot program. Some new CNG vehicles will be acquired through the
Cooperative, put into service, and evaluated to determine the reliability of the CNG
vehicle during normal Police Department use. The pilot program will determine whether
or not Police Department vehicles that operate in Code 3 status (lights and siren) are
compromised by the restricted availability of or reduced performance using CNG fuel.
All other non-Code 3 vehicles will be CNG vehicles acquired through the Cooperative.
For the Fire Department, certain fire engines and other large emergency vehicles that
use CNG are not available. City staff will continue to monitor the availability of CNG
vehicles for the Fire Department to determine when a pilot program using CNG vehicles
could be initiated.
AQMD staff has indicated that if the City solicits acquisition of a specific type of vehicle
and does not receive bids from dealers for that vehicle using CNG, then the City is
eligible for relief from any alternative fuel vehicle AQMD requirements, under the
premise that the City made every reasonable effort to procure the zero emission
` 02
City Council Staff Report
September 17, 2008
Alternative Fuel Vehicle Procurement Policy
vehicle. The AQMD waiver would not relieve the City from continuing its efforts to
acquire all available CNG vehicles in the future, with the ultimate goal of transition to a
totally zero emission vehicle fleet.
It is recognized that some vehicles may never be equipped to use CNG, and that
vehicles using traditional petroleum based fuels may have to be purchased. In such
cases, further study will be done to determine if the needed vehicles are available using
other alternative fuels.
FISCAL IMPACT:
To be determined by future purchases in which CNG vehicles may be more costly than
vehicles using traditional fuels.
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David J. Barakian Thomas J. W"•on
Director of Public Works/City Engineer Assistant City Manager
David H. Ready, Cijy.Ma'ger