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Ameren study finds 21 of 31 Brentwood fleet vehicles feasible to electrify; committee accepts report for budget review
Summary
Ameren Missouri presented a fleet-electrification study showing 21 of 31 municipal vehicles are feasible for electrification and substantial lifetime fuel savings; the Public Works Committee voted to accept the study and asked staff to consider its findings in future budgets.
Ken Cressman of Ameren Missouri presented an EV Fleet Insights report to the Brentwood Public Works Committee that analyzed 31 city vehicles across six depots and identified 21 as currently feasible for electrification. The study estimated a 10-year operational fuel cost of about $153,000 for the electrified subset versus $437,000 for internal-combustion fuel, while noting higher upfront vehicle capital costs in the scenario presented.
The report broke costs into vehicle CapEx, fuel and maintenance and stressed depot-level charger planning. Cressman said the analysis was intentionally conservative and did not include then-available federal tax credits: "municipalities do qualify for the tax credit ... that's $7,500 per vehicle that isn't in here," he said. He also explained that payback periods vary with vehicle miles; some vehicle conversions show paybacks as low as four years and many in the five- to seven-year range.
Committee members asked about maintenance, charger siting and alternatives such as hydrogen. Cressman said EVs have higher drivetrain efficiency and lower recurring maintenance but acknowledged heavier upfront CapEx and the need to evaluate depot electrical capacity. On hydrogen he said fuel production, compression and distribution reduce net efficiency compared with battery electric vehicles for most local uses.
Speaker 9 moved to accept the report and direct staff to consider it in future vehicle-replacement and budget planning; the committee approved the motion by voice vote. The vote directs staff to incorporate the study's depot-level findings into budgeting and to coordinate with the city’s vehicle-replacement policy work scheduled for 2025.
