MILWAUKEE — The City of Milwaukee is testing electric Pony cars as a replacement for the 50 parking checker Jeeps in the parking enforcement fleet. It’s all part of the city’s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030 and to net-zero emissions by 2050.
The Milwaukee Common Council approved an ordinance that requires departments to purchase low or zero-emissions vehicles when they replace or add to their fleets. The city’s Department of Public Works – Parking Enforcement is leading the way with 12 fully electric vehicles in its fleet of just over 60.
4 of those vehicles being tested are 2022 Ford Mustang MachE electric vehicles. “While we are enforcing vehicles, gas is burning. But with these, we are saving all that money,” Assistant Parking Enforcement Manager Eldricht Hill says. He took TMJ4 News out in one of the vehicles to explain why he thinks the vehicles are a good buy for the department. Hill says, “we do a lot of idling out in the field, we see a violation, we pull over and stop. We leave that vehicle running because that’s our safety net.”
When purchasing the vehicles, the city was specifically looking for all-wheel drive. As part of their electric fleet, the department has 4 three-wheeled electric vehicles and 4 compact Chevy Bolt electric cars, none of which are all-wheel drive and can replace the 4-wheel drive Jeeps. As far as the cost for the high-tech cars, city officials say the overall cost during the lifespan of the vehicles looks to be less. Electric cars of course do not use gasoline or diesel and they require minimum maintenance. “The Jeeps we’ve been purchasing for years back in 2016 were about $40,000, so that’s years ago. When we purchased these in 2021 they were $49,000 which includes all the lights,” says Parking Services Manager Tom Woznick.
The city’s Director of Environmental Sustainability, Erick Shambarger, says the ordinance the council passed allows departments to do what’s best for them moving forward. “It’s a flexible ordinance that pushes us in that direction when the technology is ready and affordable. But it sets us up to eventually transitioning our fleet to all-electric or some combination of alternative fuel vehicles,” says Shambarger. This means departments that use heavy machinery like the Fire Department or Public Works can transition slower as bigger vehicles go electric. Many of the city’s larger trash trucks and similar vehicles already run on cleaner Compressed Natural Gas. The Police Department is already using hybrid electric/gasoline Ford Explorers as squad vehicles.
Shambarger says another part of the plan to move the city forward is expanding the number of chargers in the area. The city says there are currently 44 public charging stations in Milwaukee. 29 in the city limits and 15 more in the county. Analysis shows the city will need hundreds more chargers to meet the number of electric vehicles expected on the road in 2030.
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