Charging Ahead NYC’s Clean Fleet Plan

0:15Welcome everyone. Welcome to the third

0:17annual climate and sustainability forum.

0:21It's my privilege to introduce an

0:23incredible guest, someone who was here

0:26at the very first forum, the second, and

0:28the third each time we've asked him to

0:31come back. Uh Keith Kerman, who is the

0:34chief fleet officer, deputy commissioner

0:35of New York City at the Department of

0:38Citywide Administrative Services, is a

0:41national icon. You may not know Keith,

0:45but you should certainly know him from

0:47the impact he and his team, of course,

0:50the commissioner and the mayor have had

0:52on the quality of life in New York City.

0:55Keith has been with New York City

0:57actually for some 33 years in public

1:00government, and I think he represents

1:02some of the best of public service you

1:04can find nationwide. Harvard educated,

1:08recipient of many national awards,

1:11dedicated also to sharing his knowledge

1:14with other colleagues throughout the

1:16nation. He's recently returned from Los

1:18Angeles where he's working closely with

1:20the deputy commissioner of fleet there

1:23to parallel his program. Keith

1:26supervises, and this is going to be hard

1:28to believe, almost 40,000 vehicles used

1:33by the city's some 60 agencies and

1:36offices. And I'm talking about obviously

1:39across police, fire, ambulance services,

1:43marine services, sanitation services,

1:47all of that. Keith told me in our

1:49preparation session, and this is

1:51something that I think all of us should

1:52applaud, that I believe, and he'll

1:54clarify in his presentation, that New

1:57York City actually is now almost 100%

2:01using alternative fuels. There is no

2:04fossil fuel use on city wild vehicles.

2:07That's an amazing accomplishment when we

2:10talk about climate and sustainability.

2:12He is really a pathfinder not just in

2:15terms of overseeing the the quality of

2:18of sustainability or environmental

2:20viability of the vehicles of New York

2:23City. He actually also serves as an

2:25ambassador for the city with major

2:28suppliers of automotives. He is actually

2:31looking at these, testing them, inviting

2:34in car companies to really partner with

2:36the city so that the city can maintain

2:39its carbonfree environment. Keith, I

2:42want to welcome you back to the climate

2:43and sustainability forum. I know you

2:46have a very special presentation for us.

2:48Some breaking news as well that will be

2:50in the presentation. I also want to

2:52thank you on the behalf of all the

2:54residents of New York City during New

2:56York Climate Action Week for the

2:58fantastic work you and your department

3:01do and of course under the uh support of

3:03the commissioner. Thank you Keith for

3:05joining us today.

3:07>> Okay. Thank you, Gil. Uh it's great to

3:09be back with you in one business world

3:11on behalf of Mayor Mandani and our

3:13commissioner Ume Katas. Um it's great to

3:16have this opportunity to talk about

3:17where we are charging ahead with our

3:20clean fleet plan. Um we all know there's

3:22been some headwinds in the

3:24sustainability world um that have been

3:26out there and some negative news um and

3:29retreating um but we are moving forward

3:31and and we want to talk about that. I

3:33want to thank Stelios and Gary from my

3:36shop also from for helping to organize

3:38this. And um if we're ready to go, I can

3:41I can just start moving through um this

3:43presentation. Okay. So, first who we

3:46are. We're the New York City fleet. Um

3:49as uh Gil mentioned, we are a little bit

3:52north of 40,000 total assets. You know

3:55our vehicles. Now, you can't turn on a

3:57TV set in the United States and not see

4:00New York City vehicles in action with

4:02their crews and their public servants.

4:04It's the New York City Police

4:05Department, the Fire Department, the

4:06Department of Sanitation, um

4:08transportation, parks, D. Um almost 60

4:12agencies and offices in total. Um just

4:14for fun fact, everything you're looking

4:16at in this picture is electric

4:19by the numbers. I won't spend a lot of

4:21time in it, but it's a big operation,

4:22right? While we're constitutionally a

4:24town fleet, um it's a pretty big town

4:27and we're a pretty big fleet. So, you

4:29know, we in any given year might do 165

4:33million miles um on the city fleet. Add

4:36in the school buses, it's more than 250

4:38million. There are over 1,800 full-time

4:41staff um who work in fleet and agency

4:44transportation. over 80,000 full and

4:47part-time fleet operators, including, of

4:49course, all of our uniformed um officers

4:52and firefighters and sanitation workers.

4:55Uh we're one of the largest repair

4:56operations in the East Coast United

4:58States, doing 250,000 repairs um every

5:01year. Um I always like to talk about

5:03this. We are the second largest operator

5:06of independent fuel stations uh in the

5:08state of New York um with 405 fuel

5:12stations. Um and we are a big investor

5:15in equipment. Uh in our just finished

5:18fiscal year 26, 1 billion in total

5:21expenditure, but 630 million of that in

5:24buying vehicles. So we do have an

5:25opportunity to talk to manufacturers to

5:28help move the marketplace towards

5:30sustainable safe vehicles. Finally

5:3310,289

5:34school bus is the largest school bus

5:36operation in the country, maybe in the

5:39world. um the day job for fleet

5:42supporting all the critical public

5:44services that happen every single day 24

5:46hours a day. Of course, Mayor Mdani came

5:49office and what came with them

5:51snowstorms and a very, you know, very

5:54challenging winter that the

5:56administration really did well on,

5:57including one of the biggest storms, the

5:59blizzard um in decades. Um, and

6:02obviously that's those are all fleet

6:04operations. Our fire services, our

6:05policing services, um, you know, parks

6:08where I spent 17 years of my career

6:10running citywide park operations, um, D,

6:13um, our asphalt work and and and all the

6:16great work that our DOT does in

6:18maintaining the streets, fixing the

6:20potholes, as well as our vision zero

6:22partnership with them on safety. We have

6:25five big priorities. I'm here to talk

6:26about sustainability, but the readiness

6:28of the city fleet is the number one

6:30priority. our sustainability efforts,

6:32our safety and vision zero efforts,

6:34compliance, making sure v vehicles are

6:36properly used, and there's always

6:38something in the news about the use of

6:40city vehicles and emergency

6:42preparedness. And you know, we had the

6:44snowstorms as well as um fuel emergency

6:47issues um that happened over the winter

6:50and of course the heat emergency issues

6:52that have been uh a challenge this

6:54summer. So sustainability for us is two

6:58things. Mostly it's going to talk about

7:00emissions, but when we think of

7:02sustainability, it's reducing crashes

7:04and emissions. It's making sure that our

7:06vehicles are safe, clean, and reliable.

7:09That's sustainability for us. We define

7:12it in mayoral executive order 53. Uh and

7:14in mayoral executive order 53, we also

7:17calls on Dcast to publish for the whole

7:20fleet industry nationally safe and clean

7:23fleet transition plans to really outline

7:26what can be done to improve our our

7:28fleet vehicles public and private. And

7:31we partner with the United States

7:32Department of Transportation Vulp

7:34Center. We just extended our agreement

7:36with them for another five years. We've

7:38published nine reports so far with them

7:40that have resulted in two local laws,

7:42two executive orders, including one that

7:44may mimi just announced. Um, and so, you

7:49know, we want to not just do our day

7:51job, make sure the city fleet and public

7:53services get supported, but influence

7:56and move this industry um, in positive

7:58direction um, every day. In 2015 under

8:03Mayor Delasio, we announced during the

8:05Paris climate accords the NYC clean

8:08fleet plan and we committed to 50 by 25

8:12greenhouse gas reduction for the city

8:14fleet. And the city fleet's a pretty big

8:16fleet. It's maybe somewhere between 10

8:18and 15 in terms of the largest fleets

8:21public and private in the United States.

8:23We're definitely smaller than Amazon.

8:24numbers smaller than you know Coke and

8:26Pepsi, federal government at large,

8:29state of California at large, but not

8:31too many others. And we announced that

8:32we were going to achieve 50% greenhouse

8:35gas reduction by 2025.

8:37And we did. A lot of organizations

8:40announced they were going to make these

8:41big environmental achievements back in

8:442015. Um I I think it's probably a

8:47little smaller group that actually went

8:48out and did it. Um three basic

8:52strategies. electrify everything we can

8:54as soon as we can. And there's a lot of

8:56vehicles that can be electrified today.

8:58I'm gonna go over that. And there are

8:59definitely some limitations. We don't

9:02really have an electric plow truck out

9:03there. And we probably won't for a

9:05while. Um replace fossil diesel with

9:08bofuels. And this is what Gil was

9:10referring to. Um as of the end of fiscal

9:12year 26, which ended in June, we more or

9:15less didn't use fossil diesel fuel at

9:18all. Um we replaced it all with um

9:21renewable diesel fuel. Basically the

9:23whole city fleet, your fire trucks, your

9:24sanitation trucks, your police emergency

9:26trucks was powered by used cooking oil

9:28and waste animal fats and incredibly

9:31successfully. Um and then implement

9:33hybrids and efficiencies. No matter what

9:35your power train, whatever your power

9:36source, efficiency matters, good design

9:39matters. Hybrids are still very

9:41effective in some applications,

9:43especially policing. Um and so that's a

9:45big part of our plan. So, let me go

9:47through that in detail. We have one of

9:49America's largest green fleets. Uh,

9:51we're over 22,000 vehicles. We'll

9:54probably hit 23,000 as soon as some

9:56vehicles that have been delivered go

9:58into service. It's uh nearly 80% of all

10:02our vehicles are now powered by

10:03alternative fuels, and that's electric.

10:05We just surpassed the 6,000 mark.

10:08They're not all in service yet, and

10:09we'll announce when they go in service,

10:11but we've got them. and it takes a

10:13little time to ready some city vehicles,

10:14but we're going to be over the 6,000

10:16mark. Um, we're over the 5,000 mark in

10:19hybrids, and that fleet will be growing

10:21even more. We're replacing a lot of

10:24older gas police cars with hybrids now.

10:27And that's so that's going to be

10:29happening. And then I mentioned the

10:31bofuels. Uh, that is um nearly 12,000

10:35trucks and off-road equipment pieces,

10:37all of it on renewable diesel. Um the

10:40only place we don't use a little bit of

10:41renewable diesel is some ambulances that

10:44don't have ready availability to

10:45in-house fuel sites might use some

10:47commercial fuel sites.

10:50Um we do spend a lot of money so we're

10:52going to continue to invest in

10:54alternative fuel and cleaner vehicles.

10:57Um you know we certainly had some fiscal

10:59challenges during the COVID period as

11:01everyone did. Um but we had a very

11:04healthy $630 million um investment in

11:07equipment this year. Um and you know so

11:10we expect a lot of new cleaner better

11:14vehicles to be coming in to um our fleet

11:17and and to keep these kind of

11:19environmental and safety and reliability

11:23achievements moving forward. We have New

11:25York's largest electric fleet like I

11:27mentioned 6,000 and just steadily

11:29growing this and largest charging

11:31network and now over 2600 charging

11:34ports. And uh don't let anyone tell you

11:37you can't develop a charging network um

11:39throughout a big city. That's our

11:41charging map. We've got charging

11:43everywhere in the city. New York City is

11:45as hard a place to do a charging network

11:47as you will ever find. It is obviously,

11:49as we all know, a very space intensive

11:52um place. It it is challenging um to

11:54find locations. Yet, we still have been

11:57able to do that. And so if we can build

11:59a charging network of this distribution

12:01in in New York City, then you should be

12:03able to build charging everywhere else

12:05where people actually have some space to

12:07work with. We we we're getting it done

12:09where we have almost no space to work

12:11with and and you got to kind of really

12:13be clever um in doing it. Every year our

12:17charging is just growing. And so we've

12:20got just a curve that is just keeps

12:22going way up in using electricity to

12:25support um transportation. And you know,

12:28we served over 330,000 customers in

12:31charging last year, including some in

12:33the general public. So most of our

12:35charging is for the city fleet, but we

12:37do offer public charging at 22 sites.

12:39You can go online and and look at those

12:42locations and our rates, which are very

12:44competitive. Um, and we actually will be

12:48announcing very soon an addition um to

12:50our public charging hubs. And so I won't

12:53break any news today, but we we are very

12:55close to um announcing our largest new

12:58public hub and we're going to keep doing

13:00that. Um, also in partnership with New

13:02York City DOT um that is also working on

13:05increasing public charging.

13:07Just some of our vehicles. Everyone

13:09likes pictures. Um, we are trying to

13:11break electrification into new areas.

13:14Uh, I'll be the first to tell you that

13:16on light and medium, electric works. It

13:19has a return on investment. Um, it will

13:21save you money on maintenance, on fuel.

13:25They'll last longer than other vehicles.

13:27Um, trucks are still a challenge. Trucks

13:30are still nent. It's it's newer. It's

13:32cutting edge. Um, but what I will tell

13:34you is one, if you'd asked me five years

13:37ago, we had no pickups or vans that were

13:40electric in the city fleet. Today we

13:42have a over 800 and a new big investment

13:45under Marmdani to grow that even

13:48further. Um and so the trucking while

13:51it's you know in its early days we hope

13:54we'll have that same path where in the

13:56next two three four five years we'll see

13:59advances in the technology better models

14:01more range and and more effectiveness.

14:03But we're trying. So we have our first

14:06electric garbage trucks. Um maybe the

14:08world's only and first mortuary truck.

14:11The truck on the right is the Office of

14:13Medical Examiner and it's one of two

14:15mortuary trucks that is all electric.

14:17I'm not sure anybody else is doing that.

14:20Big trucks for DOT and for education,

14:23rack trucks. Our first electric dump

14:26truck is on the right at at New York

14:28City public schools and we're very

14:30excited about that. We operate hundreds

14:31and hundreds of dump trucks in the city

14:33fleet. Um correction buses. We have our

14:36first all-election correction buses and

14:38we've made a lot of progress in law

14:40enforcement. I'll mention more about

14:42that in a minute in electrifying law

14:44enforcement fleets. Uh on the left, I

14:47was told that I would be more

14:48sympathetic if I had a slide with a a

14:51beautiful pup in it. So that's it. But

14:53that's actually an all-electric K-9

14:55unit. The emergency canine units, we are

14:58starting to move to all electric um

15:00pickup trucks to serve in as canine

15:04units. And by the way, no emissions is

15:07safer for the animals in every way. On

15:09the right, picture of sanitation

15:12sweepers, some of the sidewalk um and

15:14bike lane sweepers, and they're actually

15:16being powered by our solar car ports,

15:18freestanding solar carports. We operate

15:20160 solar carports, and we're doing some

15:22more on solar that I'll mention in a

15:24moment. A really fun piece, um if I had

15:27more time, I'd just show it to you, but

15:29take a look. Buttercup uh New York One

15:32and Roger Clark a couple weeks ago did a

15:34really nice piece about one of our

15:36newest electric trucks uh for materials

15:39for the arts which is a great program

15:41supporting um art education throughout

15:43New York City and all the students were

15:45naming the truck and and it's a great

15:47story and and a lot of fun and we need

15:49to promote electrification and promote

15:51all this good stuff and and and

15:54appreciate New York one doing that. Um

15:56I'm an ex Parky. I spent 17 years at the

15:58parks department. So, I'm going to end

16:00with my, you know, partiality to parks.

16:03Uh, we've recently electrified the parks

16:06puppet mobile, my favorite fleet unit,

16:09um, which runs puppet shows throughout

16:11New York City parks and it's just a

16:12great great institution in New York City

16:15and we've been doing some fun branding

16:17of other parks. Our vehicles are as

16:19green as our parks and great branding

16:21that the parks department has been

16:23doing. Um, some recent announcements. We

16:25announced that we surpassed 1,000

16:27electric vehicles in law enforcement at

16:29the New York City Auto Show. Um, there

16:32was a press piece that said that the

16:34best thing about the auto show was New

16:36York itself. And I really appreciated

16:39that. Um, and you know, this is one of

16:42the tough segments. If you can electrify

16:44police cars, you can electrify anything.

16:46And we are making progress. This is

16:48still still challenging, but we're

16:49making progress. We really we just

16:52announced um just last week um a first

16:55solar canopy project. We're going to be

16:57building solar canopies that power

16:59electric charging all over New York

17:01City. Um the first one was completed at

17:04Patre School High School in Staten

17:06Island. Uh we're working on one right

17:08now in Central Park that hopefully be

17:10finished by next week and we're going to

17:12be building these around the city. solar

17:15charging with um electric charging,

17:18solar solar power with electric

17:19charging. A really exciting um new

17:22advance. We also are using um our

17:26electric vehicles in places you just

17:28wouldn't think of. So in June we

17:31announced a new electric command center

17:34and it was dedicated to Joseph Espazito

17:37who was an extraordinary career public

17:39servant and leader um at multiple

17:42agencies especially New York City Police

17:43Department and during 911. Uh we

17:46dedicated it his honor um and and also

17:49just shows that electric vehicles can be

17:52used in emergency response command

17:54centers. This is an allect electric

17:56vehicle out of the Department of

17:58Buildings which responds to a lot of

17:59emergencies and uh shows what we can do

18:03where we can't do electric, right? There

18:06are limitations. Plowing is the biggest

18:08limitation impacts 3,000 city trucks. Um

18:12we don't have a plowing solution that's

18:13electric. Fire services, there are still

18:15a lot of challenges. Electrification,

18:17other functions. So where we still need

18:20to use diesel are off-road pieces. We

18:24have over 5,000 off-road units from back

18:26hose to tractors. Um, it's it's snow

18:28melters. We have gone, as Gil mentioned,

18:31completely now to renewable diesel. It's

18:34a fuel that meets the same specification

18:37as regular diesel. It has 60 to 80%

18:41better greenhouse gas um, achievement.

18:44It has no smell, no aromatics. Uh if you

18:47come to my office to the real to the

18:49fleet office of real-time tracking at

18:51the municipal building, we have the

18:52smell test and everybody who comes and

18:54visits us does the smell test. So you

18:56can smell regular diesel and it stinks

18:58and it's gross and you can smell

19:00renewable diesel and see if you smell

19:01anything. Occasionally a person says

19:03they smell something. Most people say,

19:04"Well, there is no smell." And and we

19:06like it that way. And we think that was

19:07a great advance. We've gotten now out of

19:1170% of fossil fuel. Um so not everything

19:14yet but everything on the diesel side um

19:17in just making a lot of progress that

19:18that is our that is our curve that also

19:21includes marine vessels. So one of our

19:24announcements of last year and something

19:25that's been going terrifically all seven

19:28vessels of the Staten Island Ferry

19:29program maybe the most famous vessel in

19:32the world. all of its renewable diesel

19:34now 100% bofuel. We do not use regular

19:37diesel in the Statine Feries and uh we

19:39are now moving that to the other vessel

19:41programs of the city of New York. We'll

19:43have some more announcements on that

19:45front coming very soon. So it's not just

19:48road transportation and off-road

19:50transportation, it's going to be

19:51waterborne transportation as well. And

19:53and in that case, the ferry is the

19:55biggest operation. So sometimes you

19:57start small and move large. In this

19:59particular case, we started large. The

20:01ferry is the majority of all the fuel is

20:03the stand on a ferry in the first place.

20:06Um while we replaced all our diesel with

20:08bofuel,

20:10we continue to move gasoline use down.

20:14So we're down 4.5 million gallons of gas

20:1635% and that curve just keeps going

20:19down. It's going to keep going down

20:21unless there are big emergencies, right?

20:23One thing about our operations are you

20:25know we did have a huge snow snow set of

20:29emergencies and and blizzards and major

20:31storms that you know is an unusual

20:33aspect of how we operate. So there is

20:36some additional fuel use that that

20:38happens during these big emergencies but

20:41the trend is still exactly where we want

20:43it to be. Um we monitor all of this. We

20:46monitor the whole city fleet out of what

20:48we call the Dcast fleet office of

20:49real-time tracking for it. And maybe we

20:52can get you Gil and Stellios get you

20:54over and and see how we monitor the city

20:56fleet. Um, and that is the smell test.

20:59If you see those two bottles, that is

21:00this that is our renewable diesel versus

21:03regular diesel smell test. But we're

21:05tracking 29,000 vehicles live 24 hours a

21:08day and using that information to guide

21:10how we manage the city fleet, provide

21:12services, safety, sustainability, theft

21:15prevention, and so much more. Uh I often

21:18joke that you can't walk two blocks in

21:19New York City uh without seeing a fleet

21:21vehicle. I now can prove that you can't

21:23walk two blocks in New York City. Um

21:25this is these are point of times. So on

21:27the left, that's the city fleet and a

21:29point of time we're everywhere. And on

21:31the right is a single day of the city

21:33fleet. literally on every street every

21:35day uh in New York City. And you know

21:39the third initiative for so what number

21:41one electrify everywhere you can as soon

21:43as you can. The second replace all the

21:45diesel with with fossil with um bofuels.

21:48The third is look at efficiencies and

21:49we've done a lot of that in a lot of

21:51different ways. We've reduced the fleet

21:53by 2188 units or 7%. Um and I will tell

21:57you that is not easy. Do not try that at

21:59home. reducing New York City government

22:01vehicle size is is not for the

22:03squeamish. Uh and every day someone

22:06would like me to undo some piece of that

22:08and we're holding it. There are some big

22:10operations that will need additional

22:12resources. Um the mayor announced in the

22:14sanitation commissioner a really big

22:16containerization program to change how

22:18we pick up waste. There'll be some

22:20vehicles as part of that. But we do our

22:22best to make sure we have only as many

22:24vehicles as we need, no more, no less.

22:27Um

22:29there's been discussion of the corporate

22:32fuel economy standards in the United

22:33States um and some rest you retreating

22:37of the ambition on corporate fuel

22:39economy which had been in the Obama

22:41administration 54 the goal had been 54

22:44miles per gallon and this administration

22:47is lowering that we have to report it's

22:50very you know smart law that we local

22:53law requires the city fleet to report

22:55its EPA fuel economy equivalent

22:57We've been over a 100 miles per gallon

22:59for eight of nine years, including this

23:02year. And so, don't let anyone tell you

23:04you can't achieve increases in fuel

23:06economy, dramatic increases in fuel

23:09economy. We're doing it. And we don't

23:11have special government vehicles. We buy

23:13from companies I'm sure you've heard of,

23:15Ford, GM, Toyota, Mitsubishci. Um, we

23:19buy the same vehicles that are available

23:21to everyone. We just buy the fuel

23:22efficient versions that are on the

23:24marketplace. Um, we have other law,

23:27local law 75, which requires us to

23:30report out if all these things work. So,

23:32you're buying these hybrids, you're

23:34buying these plug-in hybrids, you're

23:35buying the electric, but do they really

23:37work? And the answer is yes, they really

23:39work. So, we are doing millions and

23:42millions of miles. We publish these

23:43reports. You can take a look. Hybrids

23:45are way more fuel efficient than gas in

23:48real operation out on the streets.

23:50Plug-in hybrids are way more fuel

23:52efficient than hybrids out in the

23:53streets in real operation. Of course,

23:55electrics are not using fuel at all. So,

23:58take a look at that reporting. That's

24:00the report. We've also reported on

24:01maintenance, right? An electric vehicle

24:04is coming in at about 70% less

24:07maintenance costs even when compared to

24:09a Toyota Prius or a hybrid car, which is

24:12itself incredibly fuel efficient and

24:14maintenance efficient. So, these cars

24:16work. I have an electric car in my

24:17personal life. It's fantastic. I've

24:20discovered one pedal driving. I I If you

24:22don't know what I'm talking about, find

24:24out. It's great. I only use one. The

24:26accelerator is the only pedal I use when

24:28I drive anymore. And I like it a lot.

24:31And And you know, of course, we all know

24:33it's one of the biggest issues in

24:35America and in the world right now. Um,

24:38but electric hybrid vehicles can also

24:41shield you from the incredible increase

24:45in fuel costs that we are all

24:47experiencing that's impacting every part

24:49of the American economy in our daily

24:51lives. Um, you know, we in the city

24:53fleet where we do use fuel and where we

24:55have our fuel contracts have seen 86 to

24:58100% increases in our fuel costs. Um,

25:02and we took a look at fuel versus

25:05electric pricing. And electric is just

25:07more stable. It does go up, but you're

25:09not getting these huge swings that can

25:11be so difficult to plan for and address.

25:14So, electricity is just a more stable

25:16place to have your transportation system

25:19and a lot more efficient and um and and

25:24less variable. We we looking at that

25:27issue of efficiency, we published a

25:29report again out of our fleet office of

25:31real-time tracking and we studied

25:34battery electric vehicles and I I hope

25:35you'll take a look at this. Two things

25:38we found um one electric vehicles are

25:41nine times more efficient than

25:42combustion engine vehicles and that's

25:45been reported on by many people. The

25:47combustion engine built the modern world

25:50and thank you right you know it's pretty

25:52incredible invention. It's also an

25:54incredibly inefficient way to power

25:56anything. You lose about 80% of that

25:59energy that's produced in a combustion

26:01explosion to heat and exhaust. Uh so

26:04it's not efficient. Um electric vehicles

26:07are efficient and that's why you're

26:09seeing this 90% efficiency in this

26:11report that we did. Um the other piece

26:14that's true is electric batteries are

26:16definitely impacted by cold weather and

26:18that is something that we have to plan

26:21for as a fleet that we are planning for

26:23and addressing with but there can be a

26:2530 to 35% cold weather impact and it is

26:28more than in gas and diesel vehicles. So

26:31that is you know I I'll take the 30%

26:34cold weather impact and the 900%

26:37efficiency benefit any day of the week

26:40and I did in my own personal life. if I

26:41went and bought my own personal car. So,

26:43this was some of the national press on

26:45that report, which we encourage you to

26:47look at. We're also looking at things in

26:49our fleet office of tracking like idling

26:52um and uh in partnership with the New

26:54York State Attorney General. Um there's

26:56been some work on idling, especially

26:58focused on and reducing idling focused

27:01on school buses and that was in the

27:03public press. Um,

27:06this presentation is focused on

27:08sustainability, but I have to throw in

27:10just some commentary and some thoughts

27:12about safety. Um, you know, electric

27:15vehicles because you're redesigning them

27:18offer the opportunity to think about the

27:20whole design of the truck. This is both

27:22an all-electric and a high vision truck.

27:24Look at the front of the vehicle. That

27:26is a much safer way to design a vehicle

27:28that's going to drive through crowded

27:30streets than when you put the engine and

27:32the transmission in front of the driver

27:34and they can't see in front of them for

27:3615 to 20 feet. So many people have lost

27:38their lives because of visual awareness

27:40on trucks. Electric offers an

27:42opportunity to change that. We just made

27:43an announcement. Mayor Mani just signed

27:45an executive order about putting alerts,

27:48pedestrian alerts, sound alerts on our

27:50trucks. So, take a look at this story, a

27:53fun story that we did with Streets Blog

27:55um last week. Um but we're going to make

27:57sure that um our trucks are safer as

27:59they turn in the city and pedestrians

28:01are safer. And another just great result

28:04of that battery report, driving safely

28:08is actually more fuel efficient. And

28:10there have been other people who have

28:12reported on this, but we wanted to share

28:14from our data set. If you drive safely,

28:17it's actually you'll save money on fuel.

28:20So, um, we will soon publish a updated

28:22clean fleet plan, and I'll I'll just

28:24give you some previews. We did 50 by 25,

28:27so we're moving on to 80 by35, our next

28:30commitment, and we believe we can meet

28:31it. We're going to be expanding the

28:33electric fleet, especially medium duty

28:35vans and pickups. Uh, we're going to be

28:37completing the vessel program for

28:38renewable diesel, the other agencies who

28:40have vessels. Um, there's something

28:43called an extended range electric

28:45vehicle, an E-Rev, and it's an electric

28:47vehicle with kind of like a backup

28:50generator that could be fuel, gas, or

28:52diesel. There's a lot of these being

28:54used overseas. We believe that this

28:57could help us solve certain issues like

28:59towing, maybe plowing, maybe plowing for

29:02at least pickup trucks, um, and the

29:05range issues that come with with

29:07electric vehicles. And there definitely

29:08are some vehicles in the city fleet

29:10where, you know, they're going so many

29:12hundreds of miles a day that there's a

29:14range issue. We think e-rev will help

29:16solve that. We're going to keep

29:18introducing heavy duty electrification

29:19in new areas. We're going to look at

29:21off-road and horiculture equipment

29:23electrification, and the parks

29:24department's already made a lot of

29:25progress with over 2,000 electric weed

29:28whackers and leaf trimmer and leaf

29:31blowers and and there's more we can do

29:33on that. Um, we're going to be putting

29:35in some alternative power units and

29:37correction buses. We already do that

29:39with um, our ambulance fleet. You know,

29:41every New York City ambulance has four

29:44alternative fuel systems going. It's run

29:47on renewable diesel. It has a diesel

29:49particulate filter, which is federal

29:50law. It has an alternative power unit, a

29:53big electric plug-in battery, and

29:55there's solar panels on the top. So, um,

29:58we're doing a lot on something as

30:01challenging and critical as ambulances,

30:03which actually have to be available 24

30:05hours a day, but we're doing a lot to

30:07green even that very sensitive fleet.

30:09We're going to be expanding hybrid

30:11police cars while testing more EVs. Um,

30:13and we've set some targets, 12,000 EVs,

30:165,000 charging ports by 2035. So, we're

30:20starting to put out some some targets

30:22focused on 2035, focused on when we want

30:25to achieve 80% greenhouse gas emissions.

30:28Finally, uh going back to what I

30:30mentioned earlier, there definitely are

30:32headwinds. There is definitely federal

30:34policy that is not supportive of

30:36sustainability. I think that's a pretty

30:39I don't think that's a shocking

30:40statement to anyone who's been watching

30:42the news. Um so, we want to do

30:44everything possible to to put out the

30:47positive stories. what is possible in

30:49sustainability, what can be done and it

30:51can be done in scale. And so we

30:53announced a partnership in May with um

30:56the largest county in America, Los

30:58Angeles County, 88 cities. So the

31:00largest city and the largest county in

31:02America are going to work together the

31:04two coasts um to advance the

31:06sustainability industry to meet with

31:08manufacturers and make clear that this

31:11is the direction we want to move to tell

31:13the stories of sustainability to do

31:15research um together on sustainable

31:18products. All of that's actually already

31:20begun. I was just in California two

31:22weeks ago advancing that work with um

31:25Los Angeles County, but also a large

31:27number of other um organizations

31:30throughout California. Um and we're

31:32going to have more on that as we come

31:35into September and as we come into the

31:37rest of the year. So, we think it's very

31:38important that we all speak loudly,

31:41clearly, publicly, enthusiastically,

31:44unapologetically. This is the way we

31:46need to go. electrify, hybrid, smart,

31:49safe, clean vehicles and transportation

31:52and uh LA and New York are going to work

31:55together. But not alone. We are

31:57partnering far and wide. It's it's why

31:59I'm here with you today. Uh we've done

32:01programs with Philadelphia and Toronto

32:03and the Port Authority in Baltimore,

32:05London, Quebec, Montreal, Melbourne,

32:08Vegas. We've been all over and we're

32:10going to keep doing that. New York State

32:12and the Office of General Services is a

32:13hugely important partner to us. Um, and

32:15so we're going to partner far and wide

32:17to support sustainability, tell these

32:19stories, and keep this industry moving

32:21forward. Um, with that, I just want to

32:23say it's great to be with you and have a

32:25chance to update you on what we're

32:27doing.

32:28>> Keith, first of all, tremendous thank

32:31you on the behalf of the people of New

32:33York City and obviously because of all

32:35the efforts you have underway on the

32:37behalf of the people of the nation and

32:38the world. You have done some things

32:41that you know people sometimes say can

32:43we make a difference and clearly your

32:46efforts on the behalf of the city and

32:48behalf of of the uh of this department

32:51of the fleet services demonstrate

32:53absolutely possible the um the efforts

32:57that you've made to achieve the 2025

32:59goals that were set down before you.

33:01You've achieved them. I just have a few

33:03questions. one, today's your birthday

33:06and you're spending it here with New

33:08York City on Climate Action Week. I just

33:10want to say aside from this

33:12presentation, uh, will there be any time

33:15squeezed in to celebrate with your

33:16family?

33:18>> Yes.

33:19>> Good. >> Absolutely. But, but yes, today um, you

33:22know, it's great that environmental

33:24climate days are also coincide with my

33:27birthday, but yeah, I'm gonna absolutely

33:29>> I think we're getting the birthday gift,

33:30though. Thank you for that. So, one

33:33quick question though. Uh, the New York

33:35City fleet, I think, is probably one of

33:37the largest in the nation. Is that

33:38correct?

33:40>> Yeah, it's certainly the largest

33:41municipal fleet in the nation straight

33:44out. Um, it's probably the third largest

33:46government fleet. The federal government

33:48at large is huge and the state of

33:50California at large is huge. Other than

33:52that, it's your third largest

33:53government. So, so the question have you

33:55had such an amazing um track record of

33:58bringing alternative fuel vehicles into

34:00New York City and you talked about, you

34:02know, your work with the the major

34:04manufacturers of these vehicles. You

34:07know, often they're testing cars, but

34:09you're testing them under real world

34:11conditions. Um, do they come to New York

34:14City and come to you and say, "Hey,

34:16Keith, hey, um, Department of Fleet

34:18Services, we have a lot to learn from

34:20you. You're using our vehicles in real

34:22world conditions in in in different

34:25environments. What can we learn about

34:27our hybrid vehicles? What can we learn

34:29about alternative fuel? How can you

34:31teach us to be better manufacturers of

34:34vehicles? Does it work the other way

34:36around? Do they come to you to learn?

34:39>> Well, we are regularly in conversation

34:42with the major vehicle manufacturers. Uh

34:45and so you know we of course run a fleet

34:47show every May and we invite all of your

34:49listeners to it um every May at the

34:52Unisphere in Flushing Meadow Corona Park

34:54where the US Open tennis is played. Um

34:57and we um have actually in our executive

35:01meetings um every two weeks there's a

35:05couple vendor presentations um that

35:07begin every meeting and and so we

35:09recognize the important role that we

35:11have in communication and and working

35:13with with industry. I'll just give you

35:16one example. I won't name them but one

35:18of the major vehicle manufacturers in

35:20the United States asked to meet with us

35:21when we published our EV battery report

35:23that I was just talking about. Right?

35:25and they wanted to know more about what

35:27we had found. Um, and so we've always

35:31been ready to test, to experiment. We're

35:34large. We're in a better position to try

35:37out some things. You know, if one

35:38garbage truck fails in the city of New

35:41York, the world moves on, right? If

35:43you're in a small town and you got three

35:44garbage trucks and one of them doesn't

35:45has a problem, you know, garbage might

35:47not get picked up. That's not going to

35:49happen here. So, we do have the ability

35:51to push on products. We're always doing

35:54that. Um, you know, as we speak, we are

35:57testing or during the early

35:59conversations about things like electric

36:01motorcycles and mopeds, front end

36:04loader, the first electric frontend

36:06loaders for garbage trucks, the first

36:08electric bucket truck. So, we're always

36:10pushing the limits and talking to

36:11manufacturers. And that also is a big

36:14part of our um program with Los Angeles.

36:17So now

36:19>> with our program with Los Angeles, we're

36:21going to be meeting with manufacturers,

36:22but also with Los Angeles County, maybe

36:24with some other cities, too. Um, so, you

36:27know, extending that to to make sure

36:29that everyone knows that this is the

36:31direction we want to go.

36:32>> One last question. Um, you talked about

36:35the department's budget and you talked

36:37about deployment of vehicles, uh, but

36:40you obviously extensively talked about

36:41alternative fuels, how you're using

36:44those vehicles effectively, how you're

36:46reducing crashes, how you're improving

36:47sustainability, how you're meeting New

36:50York City and federal guidelines and

36:52international guidelines. Question I

36:54have, I also sense while you talked

36:56about budget, there's actually cost

36:58recovery or budget offset. I sense that

37:01that the work that you do is not just

37:03invest money in the city's future.

37:06You're also sa I have a sense you're

37:08saving money in the city's future,

37:10keeping vehicles on the road longer but

37:12safer alternative fuels that maybe are

37:16more cost-effective. Could you speak to

37:18the the budgettobudget ratio, the budget

37:22spent and the monies actually over the

37:24long haul saved?

37:27Yeah. So, uh, sometimes to my chagrin,

37:29to be honest, and you can just go look

37:31in the New York City's budget, which of

37:33course is a public document, a lot of

37:35our alternative fuel programs for the

37:39city fleet, were actually implemented as

37:41budget reductions. They weren't budget

37:43expansions. They were, and you can just

37:45see it in the formal budget. They, you

37:46know, there'll be electric and hybrid,

37:48and it's a budget cut. And, and what

37:50that is is the vehicles themselves are

37:52costing, you know, whether five, seven,

37:54$10,000 more. But then you are getting

37:56the major um fuel savings, maintenance

37:59savings and the in the ability to keep

38:02them longer. So the three categories of

38:04savings, maintenance, fuel, and then

38:08extending life. I will say also when you

38:10get to the fourth, which is resale, um

38:12the hybrids do great. We don't know as

38:15much about the electrics yet in the

38:17auction and and used car market because

38:19frankly we haven't done, you know, we've

38:21been extending them. We haven't

38:22auctioned many of them. In fact, we

38:25haven't I don't think we've auctioned

38:26any of the Bolts unless it's been in a

38:27crash. Um, you know, for fun fact, we're

38:29the largest operator of the Chevy Bolt

38:32uh that exists, over,200 units. So, so a

38:35lot of it is cost savings and that's

38:38great, right? If these are affordable

38:40units that make sense at the bottom line

38:44as well as out in the roadway. And the

38:46one that isn't is renewable diesel, we

38:48are paying an increment to bring that to

38:50the east coast. If you go to California

38:53today, you go anywhere in the West Coast

38:54that has the lowcarbon fuel standard,

38:56the price of renewable diesel is less

38:58than the price of regular diesel, but

39:00that's because of the lowcarbon fuel

39:02standard policy, which is more or less a

39:04carbon market. The state of Hawaii just

39:06passed its own version of the lowcarbon

39:08fuel standard just a couple weeks ago.

39:11We don't have that yet. So, we are

39:13paying an increment. And what we're

39:15really doing is we're taking the

39:17savings. I showed you the gasoline chart

39:19and we're down four and a half million

39:22gallons on gasoline. So you price that

39:25out, it's about $15 million. We're using

39:28the savings from less gas to offset the

39:31increment which can be 40 50 cents a

39:34gallon on diesel. So, we've saved on

39:37gasoline costs and we've invested some

39:40of that back to use the renewable diesel

39:43until a market develops on the east

39:45coast. Again, in the West Coast where

39:46renewable diesel is pretty mature, you

39:48don't have to worry about that. It's the

39:50same price. But we were the first major

39:53implement of renewable diesel, not just

39:55in the east coast of the United States,

39:57frankly, east of the Rocky Mountains in

39:59the United States. And so, you know, we

40:02it's been tremendously successful. Well,

40:04we know there are a lot of groups and

40:06organizations that are starting to use

40:07renewable diesel. So, as that market

40:09expands, if potentially policy changes

40:12to support it on the east coast uh in

40:14the way that is done in the west coast,

40:16um I think the increment even on that

40:19will will go away. Um and then the the

40:22trucks are challenging. So the trucks

40:24are still not quite at that return on

40:26investment level, but the light duty,

40:29the medium duty, you are cost parody or

40:33even saving money. So they just make

40:36total sense. And by the way, I I don't

40:38know Gil if you if you drive an EV, but

40:41they're also just great cars. They're

40:43fun cars, right? This is this is not

40:45like the medicine you take and it it's

40:47terrible, but you have to do it. I have

40:50never placed anybody, even crusty people

40:52who think they're going to hate them.

40:53I've never placed anyone in a Maki, in a

40:57in a Lightning, in a in these E

41:00Silverados, even in a Bolt. Right. The

41:02only complaint I've ever gotten about

41:03Bolt is people want a bigger vehicle.

41:05But no one ever claims a Bolt is not a

41:07fun, nice car to drive. They just, oh,

41:09you know, give me a bigger one. Um,

41:11>> I can understand.

41:12>> Yeah, that's, you know, we have many

41:14issues we we we we take on in our in our

41:16in our world. But the fact is, these

41:18have great cars that people like

41:20driving. I didn't buy uh an electric car

41:23in my personal life out of a mandate or

41:25guilty conscious. I wanted an electric

41:27car. That's awesome. My neighbors have

41:29have two electric cars and we were

41:30trying to keep up with them and it's a

41:32fun awesome car. So, um you know, we

41:35want to and and partly why we're here

41:36with you and you are doing a lot of

41:38great work in in promoting what's

41:40possible in the environment and keeping

41:42the positive buzz. This is where we

41:45should be going. When did efficiency

41:48become a bad thing? I not not in my

41:51world. When did smart become a bad

41:53thing? Not in my world. When you know if

41:56you if you think a gas vehicle, you

41:59think what's coming out of a tailpipe is

42:01so great, then I will challenge anyone.

42:04I will go sit my chair in the back of my

42:07electric vehicle for an hour and you go

42:10sit and run your car and I'll run the EV

42:12and you run your car and you sit a chair

42:15right behind the tailpipe and we'll see

42:16who's doing better at the end of the

42:18hour. >> Well, well, comm deputy commissioner,

42:21it's it's not a challenge I I recommend

42:23people take for their health, but first

42:25of all, I want to wish you a happy

42:27birthday. I want to thank you on the

42:29behalf of the residents of New York City

42:32for your leadership and commitment to a

42:34healthier environment. I also on the

42:36behalf of all voters regardless of how

42:38they vote want to recognize you as a

42:41public servant who is representing all

42:43people's needs prioritizing that. You

42:46and the commissioner are doing an

42:47outstanding job and I thank you so much

42:50for that. This is an incredibly

42:52inspiring presentation. I I hope that

42:55everybody who is in your sphere of of uh

42:59professional effort looks at this

43:01presentation, listens to you, follows

43:04you closely and recognizes that change

43:07is possible. It is possible. It is

43:09beneficial and as you say, it is

43:11economically efficient. Thank you for

43:14everything you do and please continue to

43:17do it on our behalf. Thank you, Keith

43:19Kerman.

43:20>> Thank you, Gil. Thank you, Stios. Thank

43:22you, One Business World. Great to be

43:23with you and uh look forward to doing

43:26this again. [music]

43:36>> [music]