Supervisors adopt amendment to require city fleet passenger vehicles be zero‑emission; council debates emergency charging concerns

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on May 16 passed, on first reading, an ordinance amending the administrative and environment codes to require that any new passenger vehicle procured for the city fleet be a zero‑emission vehicle when feasible and that all passenger vehicles in the city fleet be zero‑emission by Dec. 31, 2022, absent a waiver. The change was adopted with an amendment about how departments prioritize replacement of vehicles.

Supervisor Katie Tang, who led the measure, offered an amendment directing departments to “make best efforts to replace vehicles in order of age, such that the oldest light duty vehicles in the department’s fleet are replaced when the department purchases replacement light duty vehicles unless compelling reasons such as wear and tear, mileage, and safety concerns warrant a deviation.” The board adopted that amendment on the floor without objection; Deputy City Attorney John Gibner advised that the amendment triggers another reading, so the ordinance will return for a second reading before final adoption.

During debate several supervisors raised emergency‑response and resilience questions tied to electrification. Supervisor Yee asked whether electric vehicles could be recharged if a prolonged power outage disabled grid power. Adam Nguyen, finance and planning director for the city administrator’s office, said the city’s pilot and modeling work shows standalone solar-plus‑storage chargers can serve only limited needs today and that current deployed prototypes “would [recharge] for one vehicle basically,” adding an order‑of‑magnitude cost estimate: “I think they’re about $60,000 or so a piece.” Tang and Chief staff cited other options under review, including mobile battery trucks and building‑level battery storage; SF Environment has been piloting standalone solar EV charging units and modeling solar+storage for critical loads.

The ordinance includes exemptions for vehicles used for long‑distance travel and identified emergency response needs; the measure allows intermediate plug‑in hybrid vehicles for a subset of the municipal fleet as a transitional option where charging infrastructure does not exist. The board adopted the ordinance as amended on first reading; it will return next week for the second reading and final vote.

Why it matters: The ordinance sets a firm local deadline for electrifying the city’s passenger fleet and signals a policy direction that will affect department procurement and the pace of charging infrastructure deployment. Questions raised at the meeting highlight practical resilience issues the city must address — including charging availability during grid outages — before full adoption.

What’s next: The ordinance will be read again and can be adopted on second reading next week; departments and the city administrator’s office will need to incorporate procurement sequencing, infrastructure plans, and resilience options (solar+storage, mobile battery trailers, hybrid transitional vehicles) into implementation plans.