Location: Detroit, Michigan
Fleet type: Municipal fleet
Narrative: Since inception, Detroit has grown alongside innovation. The City of Detroit’s strong automotive foundation, network of entrepreneurs, and manufacturing infrastructure position the Midwest’s “Arsenal of Democracy” to embrace emerging transportation technologies, including electric vehicles (EVs). In 2023, the City of Detroit’s Office of Sustainability published the Detroit Climate Strategy outlining 4 strategies and 35 actions centered on mitigating municipal greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improving resiliency to climate change. One Detroit Climate Strategy priority action is to increase sustainable mobility, which targets reducing transportation-related GHG emissions and improving air quality. Of the 11 sustainable mobility actions, the City of Detroit is working to transition all light-duty fleet vehicles to zero-emission models by 2034. The goal is a resounding reminder of Detroit’s commitment to stewarding innovative and climate-conscious solutions including the Office of Mobility Innovation (OMI) as a key partner of Michigan Clean Cities’ affiliate nonprofit NextEnergy driving electrification.
In 2023, the City of Detroit’s Municipal Parking Department (MPD) was the first city department to fully convert its light-duty fleet to 100% electric vehicles, moving the city one step closer to fulfilling its 2034 goal. On March 15, 2023, MPD unveiled and deployed 48 new Chevrolet Bolt EV hatchbacks and 25 on-site Level 2 charging stations operated by Red E charging network. The adoption of Chevrolet Bolts reaffirms Detroit’s commitment to Michigan “Big Three” automakers through electrification. Keith Hutchings, the Director of Detroit’s Municipal Parking Department, highlighted how MPD was thrilled to test EV useability and help scale deployments across city departments in the electric transition. Today, the Bolts help MPD officers enforce the City of Detroit Parking Ordinances across 2,200 metered spaces scattered across the city’s 138.7 square mile footprint.
Outputs & Outcomes: The City of Detroit’s commitment to fleet electrification provides a myriad of municipal benefits, including:
- Fleet confidence: Hutchings trained officers to properly store and charge the Bolts at the end of each workday, ensuring the vehicles reached a full charge overnight. Moreover, the installation of 25 departmental Red E chargers alongside the EV rollout reduced concerns about finding public chargers, navigating multiple charging networks, and experiencing range anxiety.
- Perfect EV use case: MPD officers can drive up to 150 miles daily and a 100% charged 2023 Bolt has an average range of 259 miles, enabling the vehicles to seamlessly integrate into MPD’s fleet operations.
Best Practices & Lessons Learned: The City of Detroit’s most important lesson learned from MPD’s deployment is that it is critical to conduct an operational analysis before replacing existing fleet vehicles. Moreover, critical to MPD’s EV success was deploying the vehicles alongside charging infrastructure investments, ensuring that unnecessary strain was not placed on public chargers. Also, the strategic selection of the City’s Municipal Parking Department Enforcement Division to deploy a 100% electric light-duty fleet aligned with the office’s predictable route patterns; therefore, EVs may not fit the bill for all operations but should be evaluated holistically to ensure that as many operations as possible are made more efficient and sustainable.
About the City of Detroit’s Municipal Parking Department
The Municipal Parking Department is responsible for the enforcement of the City of Detroit Parking Ordinances and provides safe and economical on and off-street parking. The department facilitates business growth by ensuring equal access to available parking and monitors turn-over parking for the City’s more than 2,200 metered spaces. The department also offers a technologically savvy parking app in addition to online parking services that result in an exceptional parking experience for all motorists.
Park Detroit app: Park Detroit | City Parking Made Simple
About Drive Electric Michigan
Drive Electric Michigan (DEMI) is dedicated to increasing electric vehicle adoption in Michigan by engaging with policymakers, utilities, dealerships, and most importantly consumers. Michigan Clean Cities (MICC), alongside our affiliate NextEnergy, leads DEMI by leveraging Michigan’s mobility ecosystem to reduce barriers to EV adoption for fleets and community members. DEMI is an affiliated state program of the DRIVE Electric USA initiative developing state-based DRIVE Electric programs across the U.S. that engage individuals, utilities, legislators, dealerships, and others toward removing adoption barriers and accelerating plug-in electric vehicle use.
