Brown: Arizona transition to electric vehicles will save taxpayers
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Diane E. Brown, executive director, Arizona PIRG Education Fund, and Tony Dutzik, Senior policy analyst, Frontier Group
Arizona cities and towns spend millions of dollars each year buying, fueling, and maintaining vehicles. From pickup trucks to emergency and road maintenance vehicles to ordinary sedans, Arizona’s municipalities rely on a wide variety of vehicles to serve the public. Despite skyrocketing prices and air pollution, however, municipalities mostly use gasoline or diesel to fuel their vehicle fleets.
Fortunately, a better option is emerging for Arizona municipalities: electric vehicles. EVs are rapidly coming down in price and are less expensive to fuel and maintain than gas and diesel vehicles. And recently adopted federal legislation — including the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act — provides valuable new incentives for EVs and infrastructure, making fleet electrification even more attractive.
Taking the relevant factors into account, a new report by the Arizona PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group, Electric Fleets for Arizona: Saving taxpayers money through municipalfleet electrification, found a combined total of nearly $80 million could be saved in lifetime ownership expenses in 10 of Arizona’s largest municipalities by replacing retiring light-duty vehicles with EVs. Each of the 10 municipalities surveyed — from the West to the East Valley, Phoenix, and Tucson — would save money over the lifetime of light-duty vehicles by “going electric.”
It isn’t often that local governments have such a significant opportunity to simultaneously save taxpayers money and improve air quality. Arizona municipalities should follow this roadmap to reap financial and air quality benefits:
Make bold commitments. Setting a goal of phasing out gasoline and diesel vehicles as electric versions of those vehicles become available can focus all departments of municipal government on the task of transitioning to EVs and create economies of scale in vehicle purchasing and charging.
Develop municipal electrification plans. A municipal plan can help identify the best near-term targets for electrification and ensure that EVs and charging infrastructure are deployed and used effectively.
Collaborate with other municipalities in Arizona and beyond, as well as state government, to share information and ideas, negotiate discounts for EVs and equipment, pursue opportunities for financial incentives, and advocate for additional incentives and support for fleet electrification.
Take full advantage of utility incentives. Arizona’s electric utilities often offer discounts on the installation of EV charging infrastructure and/or technical assistance to help fleet owners make the transition to EVs.
Take full advantage of incentives in recent federal legislation. Municipalities should work together to identify and pursue federal incentives that further reduce the cost of new vehicles and charging infrastructure, such as the commercial vehicle credit in the IRA and incentives and funding for charging infrastructure in the IIJA and IRA.
With gasoline and diesel prices on the rise, new models of EVs arriving seemingly every day, and new federal incentives on the way, municipalities should begin the transition to EVs now to save taxpayers millions of dollars while continuing to serve the daily needs of their residents.
Diane E. Brown is the executive director of the Arizona PIRG Education Fund, an organization that conducts research and education on issues in the public interest. Tony Dutzik is the senior policy analyst with the Frontier Group.
