Covington council opts not to include electric refuse trucks in new Republic Services contract after cost and road‑impact concerns

Covington — The Covington City Council on April 22 told staff not to include a four‑truck electric refuse fleet in the city’s new contract with Republic Services after an extensive presentation and questions about cost, infrastructure and street impacts.

Don (Public Services) introduced Jim Hutchinson of Republic Services, who described the company’s national rollout of battery‑electric collection vehicles and the manufacturer partnership with Oshkosh. "Long term this is the right way to go," Hutchinson said, framing EV trucks as part of a broader sustainability goal. He told council Oshkosh will take trucks back after 10 years and that batteries are refurbished or recycled under manufacturer programs: "Our partnership with Oshkosh actually has them take those trucks back after 10 years."

Republic outlined an implementation option that would deploy four electric residential side‑load trucks and supporting chargers at the company’s facility. Hutchinson said the estimated incremental cost included a proposed $2.50 monthly surcharge per household to cover vehicles and offsets and roughly $1–1.5 million (ballpark) for charging infrastructure and transformer upgrades at the depot. Republic presented a twelve‑year cost framework (roughly $4.2 million sightline in the staff discussion) and offered contract language guaranteeing use of the trucks in the city and a metering/discount if trucks are unavailable more than 30% of the time.

Council members asked detailed questions about battery life, maintenance, vehicle weight and road wear. Hutchinson said the manufacturer warrants and refurbishes batteries and that the trucks have been piloted since 2018; he said the new Oshkosh models were built from the ground up as EVs and include modern safety cameras and visibility improvements. Several councilmembers said they were concerned about the financial effect on residents and businesses and possible increased wear on local streets. Councilmember Jennifer said the proposed rate increases for residents and the large jump for some commercial customers were difficult to justify now. Councilmember Beth and others raised road‑wear and pavement‑condition concerns tied to roughly a one‑ton heavier battery pack on each truck.

After questions and debate, the council’s direction to staff was not to include the electric‑truck option in the contract as proposed. Staff will bring the contract back for finalization without the EV fleet, and Republic will continue to work with the city if council wants to revisit EV trucks later.

Why it matters: Republic and the city framed the offer as an early municipal adoption with environmental and noise‑reduction benefits. Hutchinson noted EV trucks reduce on‑route noise and greenhouse emissions when paired with renewable energy offsets. Council members weighed those benefits against resident rate impacts, commercial rate increases and uncertainty about longer‑term pavement impacts.

Key numbers and clarifications: Republic proposed a roughly $2.50 per household monthly surcharge to cover four EV trucks and stated battery packs are intended to be returned to the manufacturer after about 10 years for refurbishment or recycling. Estimated site infrastructure costs for chargers and a transformer were described as "north of a million dollars" and depend on the depot layout; the company gave staff a twelve‑year cost illustration used in the council discussion.