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San Jose staff outline fleet backlog, electrification costs and infrastructure limits
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Summary
Public Works told the committee the city operates about 3,100 fleet assets, faces a backlog in preventive maintenance and procurement constraints, and expects electrification to require large upfront costs and facility upgrades; staff described multiple funding pathways and warned market availability of medium/heavy EVs remains limited.
Matt Lesch, director of Public Works, introduced a fleet management briefing in which Deputy Director Walter Lin and Fleet Manager David Mesa described the city’s inventory and the operational challenges of electrifying it.
Walter Lin said the city manages roughly 3,089–3,100 units and processes about 20,000 work orders annually, but is backlogged on preventative maintenance and staffing. “We average about 20,000 work orders a year for all of our city fleet,” Lin said, and staff estimate an ongoing backlog of roughly 1,500 preventative maintenance work orders.
David Mesa outlined regulatory timelines and cost estimates. Mesa said the city’s electric-vehicle master plan identified roughly 1,500 vehicle replacements at a cost of about $110,000,000 and estimated an additional $65,000,000 for chargers and facility infrastructure. Mesa also cited the California Air Resources Board Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) requirement for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and said availability of appropriate electric equivalents varies by vocation.
Committee members pressed staff on market availability for medium- and heavy-duty EVs and on funding. Staff said suppliers and manufacturers have uneven offerings; Mesa gave examples of market disruptions and noted that some manufacturers have paused product lines, and Lin said electrified specialty vehicles can be substantially more expensive. “Just using Beautify SJ’s program as an example... a normal unleaded or diesel gas vehicle is about $108,000. The electric equivalent is $250,000,” Lin said. Staff also said the city had a $12,000,000 federal charging grant that was later frozen and rescinded after a change in administration.
Staff described procurement constraints: acquiring a specialty vehicle can take multiple years (up to three years from specification to delivery), the city’s acquisitions team is small (about two people handling hundreds of procurements annually), and the fleet division has roughly 43 mechanics compared with an industry-derived staffing need of about 110 for the size of the fleet. Staff discussed alternative approaches, including rent-to-own arrangements, charging-as-a-service contracts, and regional grant partnerships to fund chargers and electrical upgrades.
Committee members expressed concern about the state timelines for purchasing medium- and heavy-duty EVs; staff said municipalities can request market-availability assistance from CARB but that exemptions are narrowly scrutinized. The committee moved to accept the fleet report; staff noted the vote status on the record during the meeting was 4–0 with one member temporarily absent, and the item was carried forward on the agenda.
