Manteca will get a little green to help it go green.
Five replacement vehicles for the public works department will reduce the city’s diesel and gasoline consumption.
The City Council Tuesday authorized applying for a $100,000 grant from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to help purchase five alternative fuel vehicles.
The terms of the grant will allow the city to use $20,000 in grant money per vehicle to go toward the purchase of five public works vehicles.
The new vehicles can be 100 percent electric, hybrid electric, or an alternative fuel such as compressed natural gas.
The $20,000 would cover all or a significance chunk of the price difference between gas as well as diesel vehicles and the higher cost alternative fuel vehicles.
The city already has hybrid electrical and CNG powered solid waste trucks as also as electric vans and buses as part of the Manteca Transit system.
All California cities, counties, school districts, and other government agencies are under a state mandate to transition to zero emission vehicles in the coming years.
There are exemptions for emergency vehicles.
The 20 replacement vehicles being purchased for the Manteca Police Department as well as new fire engines are gas or diesel powered.
There are issues that need to still be addressed, especially for patrol vehicles.
*Onboard computers essential for communications take a number of minutes to fully power up.
*Some units have police dogs requiring air conditioning.
*Officers wear protective gear that tips the scales at 20 pounds making AC a must, especially in the summer.
Having AC and electronics on throughout a shift when the vehicle is never turned off drains an EV battery quicker.
And while sine departments have used Teslas and similar EVs, they have found the heavy weight and lower placement of the battery pack makes curb jumping, when needed, tricky along with other somewhat higher clearance driving.
Turn radiuses are also not as tight on a Tesla.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
