Electric Fleet
The University of North Texas Facilities Department made a commitment in 2007 to identify areas within the fleet operations that would reduce our dependence and use of fossil fuels. One area identified was the opportunity to transition a large portion of the gasoline powered vehicles to electric vehicles over a 5 year period. With the support of upper management, Facilities set aside funds to begin the replacement process.
The Recycling Program was the first to accept delivery of a 2008 Vantage electric truck. The Recycling program picks up cardboard, paper totes and miscellaneous recycling material with their new Zero Emissions vehicle. As we continued to look for ways to improve our efficiencies, provide better service, and lessen our environmental impact the decision was made to locate a small cadre of staff to the centrally located Power Plant. Because the Power Plant is located in the heart of the University campus, electric cargo vans were the logical choice to provide mobility for staff to address maintenance and repair service activities. Six (6) Vantage electric cargo vans were ordered and placed in service January 2009. Facilities Stores/Warehouse Department provides support for materials and supplies to internal Facilities staff, job sites, computer labs across campus, and the campus community. The Stores/Warehouse accepted delivery of a 2008 Columbia cargo van in February 2009. We expect that these initiatives will reduce gasoline consumption and maintenance costs per year by approximately $12,000 per year.
We have made a good start toward achieving our goal and expect to purchase 4 to 5 additional electric vans/trucks by the end of the year. As electric vehicles are placed into service within the Facilities fleet the gasoline powered vehicles being replaced are sent to Surplus or sold to departments across campus. The proceeds from these sales are invested back into purchasing additional electric vehicles putting us one vehicle closer to our goal.