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Staff outlines fleet electrification hurdles and public EV charging priorities for Larkspur
Summary
City staff reviewed a fleet‑electrification spreadsheet and the forum debated public vs. private EV charging, infrastructure constraints for older housing and the need for a prioritized public charging pipeline; staff will clarify implementable steps.
City staff presented an inventory of municipal vehicles and discussed the practical hurdles of electrifying some vehicle classes while proposing a prioritized pipeline for public EV charging.
"We don't forecast replacement dates for the city fleet because we try to drive most of our vehicles for 20 to 30 years," said Dan Schwarz, acting city manager staff, explaining why some municipal vehicles remain in long service even as the city pursues electrification.
Staff showed a spreadsheet listing which city vehicles are electric, their estimated remaining useful life and where replacements might be prioritized. Schwarz said the police fleet is further along: "the police fleet, which we are rapidly replacing with EVs. So, we're now up to five patrol cars." Members asked staff to attach the spreadsheet to the meeting minutes so council and the public can see the baseline.
The forum spent substantial time on EV charging strategy. Members asked staff to clarify whether the action item "identify potential private and public sites for EV charging" meant publicly accessible chargers on private property or city‑funded chargers on public property. Schwarz urged a pragmatic approach: encourage private developers and multifamily owners to exceed minimum state requirements while the city should focus on prioritizing publicly accessible chargers where budget and capital planning allow.
Schwarz recommended splitting responsibility between planning (developer-facing policies such as asking applicants about EV readiness) and public works (city infrastructure projects and capital funding). He suggested the city develop conceptual costs, a prioritized rolling pipeline of projects and triggers for installing chargers at public parking lots.
Members also asked staff to identify baselines and metrics (for instance, how many municipal vehicles are currently electric and how many chargers exist on public property) and to return with implementable options and probable resource needs. County resources and partners such as MCE and Zero Waste Marin were discussed as referral points for developers and property owners.
Next step: staff will review the EV charging and fleet actions, propose quantifiable baselines and suggest a prioritized list of public‑charging projects for council consideration and budget planning.
