May 2024
Greater Montreal Climate Fund
In early 2023, the Greater Montréal Climate Fund (GMCF) supported the development of an online simulator tool for municipal EV fleet conversions. Called MaVilleÉlectrique, the purpose of the tool is to identify the best path forward in electrifying local municipal fleets, in particular for small to medium-sized municipalities that may have lower capacity and resources to assess their options.
MaVilleÉlectrique is free to use and generates a customized, comparative analysis that includes investment, cost savings and projected GHG emissions reductions. The project was co-funded with four other local organizations (Vivre en ville, UMQ, Propulsion Québec and Running Electric) and led by IVÉO, a non-profit organization supporting over 75 small to medium-sized municipalities in Quebec to deploy innovative solutions towards pressing urban sustainability needs. Drawing data from pilot projects in IVÉO’s partner municipalities, the tool ensures ease of use for municipal decision-makers while generating credible and reliable information.
Since its launch in March 2023, the MaVilleÉlectrique has evaluated over 1000 scenarios and generated nearly 400 detailed recommendation reports. It has reached over 145 cities of all sizes in Quebec and beyond – a successful first year that shows promise for the tool’s potential to scale out to other municipalities across the country.
MaVilleÉlectrique: How it works
MaVilleÉlectrique was built to consider the full spectrum of municipal vehicle types, which includes everything from light duty vehicles, trucks, and police cars to heavier duty garbage trucks and street sweepers. Its ability to include multiple vehicle types into scenarios has already uncovered insights on deeper emission reductions during the pilot stage of the tool. While testing the beta version, the city of Prévost found that replacing a single street sweeper with an electric version would reduce GHG emissions by 260 tonnes over 10 years, while the same investment into replacing 20 light-duty vehicles would lead to just of 150 tonnes of reduction over the same period.
In considering costs, MaVilleÉlectrique generates a comprehensive analysis for existing vehicles and their EV counterparts that considers capital and operating expenses as well as currently available vehicle subsidies. It is being maintained as a living tool to reflect the latest in vehicle fuel efficiency, cost of fuel, availability of certain EV models and regulatory changes.
Fostering relationships and broadening reach
As the LC3 Centre for the Greater Montreal region, GMCF is supporting a diversity of projects that will enable deep carbon reduction in the 82 municipal entities it serves. With transportation emissions in Quebec representing a higher proportion of total emissions relative to the national average, one of GMCF’s key priorities is to support an accelerated transition to electric vehicles (EVs) and electric mobility at the local level. GMCF’s focus on transportation emissions, paired with the vast number of municipalities within their jurisdiction that could benefit from simplified decision-making, made supporting MaVilleÉlectrique a natural fit.
In addition to its strategic alignment, relationship building was an important outcome of this project. MaVilleÉlectrique was one of the first grants provided by GMCF following the Centre’s incorporation in 2020. Participation in this project gave way to new and strengthened relationships with local leaders as GMCF was gaining its footing, including IVÉO and the other funders in the project collaborative. With 82 municipalities located in the Greater Montreal area alone, this project also allowed GMCF to support a tool that would be relevant to the diversity of needs within their jurisdiction and build connections with small to medium-sized municipalities, leading to potential for future support.
Tools like MaVilleÉlectrique also have the potential to build local-level capacity and to generate understanding around local trends, barriers, and opportunities for market interventions such as government policy or incentives. As GMCF continues to explore its role in supporting the accelerated adoption of EVs, the relationships and learning gained through MaVilleÉlectrique have already begun to inform future concepts and opportunities for collaboration.