Pinellas County Government’s first two fully electric vehicles hit the road

Pinellas County Government’s first two fully electric vehicles are hitting the road this week, paving the way to a reduced carbon footprint for County operations.

The two 2021 Chevrolet Bolts, which read “Powered By Your Trash” along the sides and back, will be powered using charging stations at the County’s Solid Waste Disposal Complex, which includes the Waste-to-Energy (WTE) facility. The WTE facility turns trash from Pinellas County residents, businesses and visitors into electricity, which is added to the local electric grid and is enough to power about 45,000 homes and businesses every day. Funded by disposal fees at the County’s Solid Waste Disposal Complex, the cars will be used for business inspections conducted by department staff.

The carbon footprint of two Chevrolet Bolt electric cars is about two-thirds lower than that of the average new gasoline-powered vehicle, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s greenhouse gas emissions calculator. The WTE facility also helps prevent greenhouse gas pollution caused by waste decomposing in landfills. These facilities produce less emissions than sending waste to a landfill would, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The cars are also expected to reduce fuel and maintenance costs. Purchasing two electric vehicles has the potential to save the County more than $3,000 in fuel costs over the course of the cars’ lifetimes if County staff drive them an average of 75 miles per week for eight years, according to Duke Energy’s Fleet Electrification Calculator. Maintenance costs also tend to be much lower in an electric vehicle due to fewer moving parts, fewer fluids to change and reduced brake wear.

Pinellas County also owns two 2015 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid electric cars and plans to adopt more electric and hybrid vehicles in the coming years, starting with six additional fully electric vehicles, four hybrid bucket trucks and 24 electric golf carts in 2022. There are currently eight publicly accessible electric vehicle charging stations at County facilities as part of Duke Energy’s Park & Plug program.  

Residents can learn more about electric vehicles on Pinellas County’s website at www.pinellas.gov/EV.